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1 


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“MAKERS  OF  AMERICA” 


Peter  Stuyvesant 


DIRECTOR-GENERAL  FOR  THE  (VEST  INDIA 
COMPANY  IN  NEIV  NETHERLAND 


t- 

BY 


BAYARD  TUCKERMAN 


AUTHOR  OF  “a  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LAFAYETTE,”  ETC,  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 
1898 


Copyright,  1893, 

By  Dodd,  Mead  and  Company. 

All  rights  reserved. 


Sntbrrsitg  Press: 

John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


TO 


Dr.  J.  west  ROOSEVELT. 


'•V, 


;.%y-  >-'  . 


». 


<> 


1^. 


PREFACE. 


Original  sources  of  information  concerning 
the  early  Dutch  settlers  of  Manhattan  Island 
are  neither  many  nor  rich.  The  two  volumes 
of  Holland  Documents,  published  by  the  State 
of  New  York,  contain  the  official  papers  of  the 
colony  and  the  West  India  Company.  Some 
contemporary  descriptions  exist,  of  which  Van 
der  Donck’s  is  the  best.  But  the  Dutch  wrote 
very  little,  and  on  the  whole  their  records  are 
meagre.  Concerning  their  social  conditions, 
the  best  authority  is  to  be  found  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  burgomasters  and  schepens, 
preserved  in  the  City  Hall  and  in  the  books  of 
the  Surrogate’s  and  Register’s  offices.  These 
sources  and  the  collections  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  have  been  relied  upon  in  the 
preparation  of  this  book.  The  author’s  thanks 
are  due  to  Mr.  WiLLlAM  Kebby,  Librarian  of 
the  Historical  Society. 

The  Benedick,  New  York, 

March,  1893. 


. 


'4 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

CHAPTER  I. 

Settlement  of  Manhattan  Island  by  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company.  — Administrations  of  Directors 
Peter  Minuit,  Wouter  van  Twiller,  and  Wilhelm 
Kieft 7 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Administration  of  Peter  Stuyvesant  ...  57 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Social  Aspect  of  New  Amsterdam  in  the  Time  of 

Peter  Stuyvesant 103 

CHAPTER  IV. 

New  Amsterdam  becomes  New  York  . . . 169 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SETl'LEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND  BY  THE  DUTCH 
WEST  INDIA  COMPANY. ADMINISTRATIONS  OF  GOV- 

ERNORS PETER  MESfUIT,  WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  AND 
WILHELM  KIEFT. 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  September,  1609,  a 
few  Indians  wandering  upon  the  shore  of  Sandy 
Hook,  were  surprised  by  the  sight  of  a ship  sailing 
slowly  along  the  coast.  They  fled  inland,  spreading 
among  their  tribe  the  news  of  the  strange  appari- 
tion. The  vessel,  carefully  sounding  as  it  went, 
rounded  the  Hook  and  cast  anchor  in  the  waters  of 
what  is  now  known  as  the  lower  bay  of  New  York. 

A century  of  maritime  and  colonial  enterprise  had 
begun,  which  was  to  make  familiar  to  Europe  the 
continents  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  America ; to  witness 
the  foundation  of  new  empires,  and  to  broaden  in- 
deflnitely  the  horizon  of  human  activity.  As  yet, 
colonization  in  America  had  made  little  progress. 
Spaniards  under  Menendez  had  built  the  fort  at  St. 
Augustine  in  1565.  A few  settlers  in  Virginia  had 
been  struggling  since  1607  under  the  leadership  of 
Captain  John  Smith.  In  1608,  Champlain  planted 


8 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


the  cross  and  the  fieur-de-lys  at  Quebec.  Now,  in 
1609,  the  flag  of  the  United  Netherlands  was  car- 
ried by  Henry  Hudson  up  the  river  which  bears  his 
name. 

The  Dutch,  who  thus  entered  into  competition 
with  Spain,  England,  and  France  for  the  possession 
of  American  territory,  were  in  the  heroic  period  of 
their  history.  Industry  and  fortitude,  qualities  es- 
sential to  their  existence,  had  been  impressed  on 
the  national  character.  Possessing  a land  situated 
in  great  part  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  liable 
to  overflow  besides  from  the  fresh  waters  of  the 
Rhine,  persevering  toil  had  shut  out  the  tides  of  the 
Atlantic,  had  confined  by  great  dykes  the  river  be- 
tween its  banks,  had  changed  marshes  and  inland 
seas  into  meadows.  The  precious  territory  thus 
redeemed  was  turned  to  such  account  that  visitors 
from  other  nations  of  Europe  were  astonished  at 
the  aspect  of  Dutch  cultivation.  The  to^vns  promi- 
nent on  the  few  elevations  which  the  country  af- 
forded, or  in  the  lowlands  intersected  by  waterways 
which  served  for  streets,  were  hives  of  wealth-pro- 
ducing industry.  Merchandise  from  every  comer 
of  the  civilized  world  was  floated  through  the  quiet 
canals  up  to  the  warehouse  doors.  A soil  too  re- 
stricted to  sustain  its  population  by  agriculture  made 
foreign  commerce  the  basis  of  prosperity.  Dutch 
ships  carried  for  every  nation,  making  Amsterdam,, 
and  The  Hague  markets  where  all  the  world  came 
to  buy.  The  destiny  of  the  countr}"^  was  well  ex- 
pressed by  the  stamp  on  an  old  Zealand  coin,  — a 
sceptred  king  riding  over  the  waves  on  a sea-horse. 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND,  g 

with  the  device,  “Your  road  is  upon  the  sea,  and 
your  paths  are  in  many  waters.”  The  motto  of  the 
noble  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  which  declared 
the  wages  of  labour  to  be  honourable,  indicated  the 
spirit  of  industry  which  animated  the  higher  as  well 
as  the  lower  ranks  of  Dutch  society. 

It  w_as  natliral  that  a people  so  intelligent  and 
self-reliant  should  rest  uneasily  under  the  weight  of 
arbitrary  power  and  the  Roman  Inquisition.  From 
an  early  period,  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands 
had  enjoyed  an  exceptional  degree  of  political  lib- 
erty. The  large  towns  managed  their  own  affairs 
as  semi-independent  corporations,  while  the  nobles 
ruled  on  -their  estates  in  accordance  with  liberal  cus- 
toms which  had  the  force  of  law.  The  principles 
of  the  Reformation  rapidly  gained  adherents.  The 
efforts  of  the  Inquisition  to  stifle  religious  thought 
at  the  gallows  and  the  stake  were  met  by  rebellion 
and  image-breaking.  Charles  the  Fifth  of  Spain,  of 
whose  vast  inheritance  the  Netherlands  formed  a 
part,  abdicated  his  throne  in  time  to  avoid  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  presented  by  Dutch  political 
and  religious  liberty.  But  in  1555  he  had  brought 
his  son  Philip  to  the  Netherlands,  and  had  intro- 
duced to  the  provinces  their  future  master.  In  the 
security  of  his  palace  at  Madrid,  the  monarch  who  - 
combined  most  completely  an  ignorant  bigotry  with 
a relish  for  human  blood,  brooded  over  a plan  to 
extirpate  every  Dutchman  not  wholly  devoted  to  the 
Roman  Inquisition  and  the  absolute  authority  of  the 
Spanish  crown.  In  1567  Philip  had  decided  upon 
the  method,  had  received  the  approval  of  the  earthly 


lO 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


representative  of  Christ,  and  had  appointed  the  Duke 
of  Alva  to  carry  out  the  holy  work.  The  duke 
arrived  in  the  Netherlands  with  his  boxes  of  death- 
sentences  signed  in  blank  by  Philip,  and  ten  thou- 
sand picked  veterans  from  the  Spanish  army,  to 
which  were  added  the  king’s  troops  already  in  the 
country.  Against  this  force  the  Netherlands  had 
almost  none  to  oppose,  Alva,  holding  the  king’s 
commission,  had  the  law  on  his  side.  In  several 
of  the  provinces  the  Catholics  predominated,  and 
welcomed  what  they  considered  a holy  crusade 
against  heretics.  Moreover,  the  lack  of  union 
among  the  provinces  enabled  Alva  to  proceed 
against  each  one  separately.  Thus  for  a time  the 
Dutch  could  only  suffer.  Three  men  stood  pre- 
eminent as  leaders,  — William  of  Orange,  and  the 
counts  Egmont  and  Horn.  William  foresaw  the 
object  of  Alva’s  mission,  and  left  the  Netherlands 
in  time  to  save  a life  which  was  to  be  his  country’s 
salvation.  Egmont  and  Horn,  trusting  in  Philip’s 
treacherous  promises,  remained  to  lose  their  heads. 
In  the  course  of  a few  years,  Alva  and  his  Council 
of  Blood  had  taken  the  lives  of  eighteen  thousand 
persons  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner  alone.  The 
sword,  the  rope,  the  stake  and  the  rack  were  sup- 
plied to  their  full  capacity  with  victims  whose  crime 
was  a belief  in  the  reformed  religion.  Tortures 
which  surpassed  the  ingenuity  of  savage  races  ex- 
torted from  innocent  servants  accusations  against 
equally  innocent  masters,  which  sent  accuser  and 
accused  together  to  the  scaffold. 

The  resistance  to  Alva  and  the  Spanish  armies 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  II 


could  be  made  only  by  isolated  towns  which  had 
none  but  their  burghers  and  families  to  defend  the 
walls.  The  endurance  and  valour  displayed  by  the 
citizens  of  Haarlem,  Leyden,  Maestricht,  and  Alk- 
maar  hardly  find  a parallel  in  history.  Men,  women, 
and  children  resisted  for  months  the  famine  within 
as  well  as  the  veterans  without.  Leyden,  reduced  to 
the  last  extremity  of  starvation,  held  out  until  Dutch- 
men opened  gaps  in  the  dykes,  led  the  waters  of 
the  Atlantic  over  the  land,  and  forced  the  besiegers 
to  abandon  their  exhausted  prey.  Of  the  character 
of  the  war  waged  by  the  Spanish  generals,  the  fate 
of  Maestricht  is  a sufficient  example.  After  defend- 
ing their  walls  for  four  months  against  the  Spanish 
veterans,  the  burghers  and  their  wives  were  sur- 
prised in  their  sleep.  The  city  had  contained  over 
thirty  thousand  inhabitants  before  the  siege,  occu- 
pied in  flourishing  industries.  All  those  who  had 
survived  the  previous  fighting  were  put  to  the  sword, 
except  four  hundred  whom  sheer  fatigue  of  slaughter 
allowed  to  escape.  They  wandered  away,  and  the 
town  became  a shelter  for  camp-followers  and  vaga- 
bonds. Such  was  the  system  chosen  by  Philip  to 
tempt  his  Dutch  subjects  back  to  the  fold  of  the 
Roman  Church.  After  all  the  executions  and  the 
massacres,  it  was  wonderful  that  there  remained 
men  or  spirit  enough  to  rise  against  the  oppressor. 
But,  as  Sir  Philip  Sidney  said  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 
the  spirit  of  the  Dutch  was  the  spirit  of  God,  and 
was  invincible. 

Through  these  years  of  suffering,  the  hearts  of 
the  Netherlanders  had  turned  to  William  of  Orange 


12 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


as  the  only  hope  of  their  need.  He  had  sold  or 
mortgaged  all  his  property  to  procure  the  means  to 
hire  soldiers  to  fight  the  Spanish,  but  the  merce- 
naries which  he  could  collect  had  been  of  little 
avail  against  the  trained  veterans  of  Philip.  The 
patient  fortitude  of  William  the  Silent  proved  supe- 
rior, at  last,  to  Spanish  force.  The  Protestant 
provinces,  hitherto  divided,  united  under  his  stand- 
ard. In  1579,  the  Union  of  Utrecht  arrayed  the 
country  under  William,  and  from  that  hour  the  tide 
turned.  During  forty  years  of  war,  Holland  and 
Zealand  led  the  other  Protestant  provinces  in  de- 
stroying and  expelling  the  armies  of  Spain ; and 
during  these  years  of  struggle,  the  rebellious  pro- 
vinces rose  to  an  extraordinary  height  of  prosperity. 
On  the  other  hand,  Hainault  and  Brabant  (now 
Belgium),  which  submitted  to  the  rule  of  Philip, 
sank  into  complete  desolation.  The  withering  rule 
of  the  Inquisition  and  the  Spanish  soldiery  so  re- 
duced the  country  that  its  inhabitants  deserted  it. 
The  suburbs  of  Antwerp  were  abandoned  to  wolves, 
that  reared  their  young  in  once  prosperous  human 
dwellings ; the  crops  ceased  to  be  planted ; Catholic 
nobles  who  had  lived  in  feudal  pomp  on  their  estates 
were  seen  begging  for  bread  in  the  streets  of  Pro- 
testant Amsterdam  and  The  Hague.  From  such  a 
fate  Holland  and  Zealand  escaped  by  a desperate 
struggle  of  forty  years  against  the  power  of  Spain, 
when  that  power  was  the  greatest  in  Europe,  and 
was  supported  by  the  treasures  taken  from  South 
American  mines.  In  William  the  Silent,  the  Dutch 
had  a soldier  and  statesman  whose  character  ap- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  13 

proaches  more  nearly  to  Washington’s  than  that  of 
any  leader  of  men  recorded  in  history.  William 
was  assassinated  in  1584  by  a hireling  of  Philip; 
but  he  left  a son  known  as  Prince  Maurice  of  Nas- 
sau, who  lived  to  be  the  first  captain  of  his  time, 
and  to  complete  the  work  of  national  independence 
begun  by  his  father. 

Great  as  were  the  victories  won  by  the  armies  of 
Holland,  they  were  surpassed  by  the  prowess  of  her 
seamen.  From  every  port  on  the  coast  sailed  pri- 
vateers to  prey  on  the  commerce  of  Spain.  Galleons 
from  America,  merchant-men  from  the  East  Indies, 
trading-vessels  from  European  ports,  ships  which 
had  carried  their  cargoes  safely  for  thousands  of 
miles  were  captured  as  they  entered  their  own  har- 
bours, and  brought  as  prizes  into  the  Dutch  canals. 
As  navigators  and  sea-fighters  there  was  no  compari- 
son to  be  made  between  the  two  nations.  In  1602, 
Jacob  Heemskerk,  with  two  small  vessels  containing 
together  one  hundred  and  thirty  men,  captured  in 
the  Straits  of  Malacca  a great  Lisbon  carrack  manned 
by  eight  hundred  men,  and  divided  among  his  sailors 
a booty  of  a million  florins.  Wolfert  Hermann,  with 
five  trading-vessels  and  three  hundred  men,  put  to 
flight  off  the  coast  of  Java  the  fleet  of  twenty-five 
large  ships  which  Mendoza  had  brought  to  punish 
the  islanders  who  had  dared  to  trade  with  the  ene- 
mies of  Philip  and  the  Pope.  In  1607,  Admiral 
Heemskerk  discovered  the  Spanish  war-fleet  com- 
manded by  Don  Juan  Alvarez  d’Avila  at  anchor  in 
the  Bay  of  Gibraltar  under  the  guns  of  the  fortress. 
Heemskerk  had  twenty-six  small  vessels,  several  of 


14 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


which  could  not  be  brought  into  action.  D’Avdla 
had  twenty-one  sail,  of  which  ten  were  galleons  of 
the  largest  size,  containing  four  thousand  soldiers. 
Heemskerk  attacked  at  one  o’clock,  and  by  evening 
every  Spanish  ship  had  been  destroyed  with  the 
crews  and  soldiers,  while  the  Dutch  lost  not  a single 
vessel  and  only  one  hundred  men. 

Spain  had  exhausted  her  resources  in  vain  to 
reduce  the  rebellious  provinces  to  political  and  re- 
ligious subjection.  The  treasures  which  were  to  pay 
her  soldiers  had  been  wrested  from  her  on  the  seas. 
While  she  was  poor  and  defeated,  the  Netherlands 
were  rich  and  victorious.  Her  pride  could  not  yet 
recognize  that  independence  which  the  provinces 
had  won ; but  she  consented  eagerly  to  a truce  of 
twelve  years,  in  which  to  regain  energy  to  renew  the 
struggle.  This  truce,  which  began  in  1609,  was 
not  generally  acceptable  in  the  Netherlands.  Prince 
Maurice  led  a powerful  party,  which  preferred  to 
continue  a war  which  gratified  the  national  desire 
for  revenge  at  the  same  time  that  it  filled  with 
treasure  the  warehouses  of  the  towns.  But  the 
peace-party,  under  the  guidance  of  John  of  Bame- 
velt,  carried  the  day,  and  a brief  period  of  repose 
intervened  before  the  Thirty  Years’  War. 

The  national  energies  called  into  being  by  the 
conflict  with  Spain  immensely  increased  the  mari- 
time enterprise  of  Holland,  and  eventually  made 
Dutchmen  supreme  on  the  seas.  In  1596,  Corne- 
lius Houtman  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and 
showed  his  countrymen  the  way  to  India.  The 
India  trade  increased  so  rapidly  that  the  States- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  15 

General,  fearing  the  results  of  excessive  competition, 
compelled  all  Dutchmen  thus  engaged  to  unite  in  a 
single  organization.  Thus,  in  1602,  was  formed  the 
great  Dutch  East  India  Company,  which  expelled 
the  Portuguese  from  India,  captured  Spanish  prop- 
erty all  over  the  world,  and  grew  into  an  unexampled 
commercial  power. 

In  1609  this  Company,  hoping  to  find  a northern 
passage  to  India  shorter  than  that  around  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  was  looking  about  for  a suitable 
explorer.  He  was  found  in  Henry  Hudson,  — an 
Englishman  who  had  already  made  two  arctic  voy- 
ages in  the  employment  of  the  London  Trading 
Company,  and  who  had  shown  himself  to  possess 
the  necessary  intrepidity,  perseverance,  and  know- 
ledge of  navigation.  The  East  India  Company 
placed  him  in  command  of  the  “ Half-Moon,”  a 
small  vessel  manned  by  a picked  crew  of  Dutch  and 
English  sailors,  and  he  set  sail  from  Amsterdam 
on  the  25th  of  March,  1609.  Ice  and  fog  having 
balked  his  efforts  to  pass  either  to  the  south  or  the 
north  of  Nova  Zembla,  he  sailed  westward  along  the 
coast  of  North  America  from  Newfoundland  to  Vir- 
ginia ; then  turning  again  to  the  north,  he  followed 
the  shore  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  great  North 
River.  Hoping  that  a passage  might  here  exist  to 
the  north  and  west  around  the  Pole,  he  sailed  up 
the  river  as  far  as  the  site  of  Albany.  He  traded 
with  the  Indians,  and  gave  them  their  first  taste  of 
intoxicating  liquor.  He  observed  the  beauty  and 
fruitfulness  of  the  land,  the  remarkable  adaptation 
of  the  waters  to  the  purposes  of  commerce,  and 


1 6 PETEK  STUYVESANT. 

returned  down  the  river,  disappointed  in  his  object 
of  finding  a northwest  passage  to  India,  but  confi- 
dent that  he  had  made  a discovery  valuable  to  his 
employers.  The  “ Half-Moon  ” soon  after  made 
port  at  Dartmouth,  England,  where  the  authorities, 
jealous  of  Dutch  interference  in  America,  forbade 
Hudson  to  proceed  to  Holland.  But  the  vessel, 
with  maps  and  descriptions  of  the  new  discoveries, 
reached  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  at  a propi- 
tious moment. 

The  truce  with  Spain  made  it  necessary  to  find 
new  outlets  for  the  maritime  enterprise  which  had 
grown  so  fast  during  the  war,  and  many  ship-owners 
in  Holland  now  turned  their  attention  to  America. 
During  the  five  years  following  Hudson’s  discovery, 
the  coasts  were  explored  and  the  advantages  of  the 
fur-trade  determined.  Hendrick  Christiansen  and 
Adrian  Block  especially  distinguished  themselves. 
Block’s  ship  having  been  burned  at  Manhattan 
Island,  he  built  himself  a new  one  on  the  spot,  called 
the  “ Restless,”  in  which  he  explored  Long  Island 
Sound  and  Cape  Cod,  and  discovered  the  island 
which  still  bears  his  name.  In  1614,  the  territory 
made  known  by  Hudson  and  Block  was  formally 
named  New  Netherland  by  the  States-General,  and 
the  monopoly  of  trade  conceded  to  the  Amsterdam 
Trading  Company.  This  association  kept  up  a 
small  station  on  Manhattan  Island  and  another  up 
the  river  in  the  Mohawk  country,  and  prosecuted  the 
fur-trade  for  several  years.  A few  agents  lived  at 
each  station  in  log-huts,  bartered  Dutch  trinkets  for 
beaver-skins  collected  by  tlie  Indians,  and  were 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  1 7 


visited  in  their  solitude  at  regular  intervals  by  an 
Amsterdam  ship,  which  brought  supplies  and  carried 
home  the  peltry.  In  1618  the  Company’s  charter 
expired,  and  the  States- General  refused  to  grant  a 
new  one,  as  they  had  more  extensive  plans  in  view 
for  New  Netherland.  The  marvellous  success  of 
the  East  India  Company  as  a commercial  institution, 
and  as  an  instrument  for  inflicting  injury  on  the  he- 
reditary enemies  of  Holland,  convinced  the  States- 
General  that  their  new  possessions  would  be  utilized 
to  the  best  advantage  by  similar  means.  Therefore 
in  1621  was  incorporated  for  twenty-four  years  the 
West  India  Company,  with  exclusive  power  to  plant 
and  govern  colonies,  to  prosecute  trade,  and  to  wage 
war  against  national  enemies  in  the  West  Indies  and 
America.  The  government  of  this  commercial  and 
military  monopoly  was  intrusted  to  a board  of  nine- 
teen directors,  called  the  College  of  the  XIX.,  of 
which  Amsterdam  furnished  eight,  Zealand  four. 
The  Maas  two.  North  Holland  two,  Friesland  and 
Groningen  two,  and  the  States- General  one. 

The  first  agricultural  colonists  were  sent  out  in 
the  ship  “New  Netherland”  in  1623,  and  culti- 
vated the  fertile  lands  along  the  shore  of  the  East 
River.  Soon  after,  several  families  of  Walloons,  per- 
secuted Protestants  from  the  Catholic  provinces, 
settled  at  the  Waal-Bogt,  now  Wallabout  Bay,  Long 
Island.  Others  followed,  and  under  Cornells  Mey 
and  Wilhelm  Verhulst  a small  settlement  grew  up 
at  the  extreme  end  of  Manhattan  Island ; a trading- 
post,  called  Fort  Orange,  was  erected  on  the  Hud- 
son, near  the  present  site  of  Albany,  and  another. 


2 


i8 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


called  Fort  Nassau,  on  the  South  or  Delaware 
River.  These  three  points  in  the  wilderness  marked 
the  only  habitations  of  white  men  between  Virginia 
and  Plymouth.  In  1626,  Peter  Minuit  came  out  as 
director  for  the  West  India  Company,  and  under 
his  administration  of  seven  years  much  progress  was 
made.  The  Island  of  Manhattan  was  purchased  for 
the  Company  for  twenty-four  dollars,  — a fair  sum, 
considering  that  the  Indians  suffered  only  a slight 
diminution  of  their  hunting-grounds,  and  that  the 
land  had  no  value  beyond  that  which  the  Company 
could  give  it  by  its  owm  expenditure.  A block- 
house, surrounded  by  a stockade,  was  erected  to 
serve  as  a fort  on  the  shore  of  the  Bay.  A mill  was 
built,  of  which  the  upper  room  served  as  a church. 
The  place  of  a clergyman  was  taken  by  a “ krank- 
besoecker,”  or  consoler  of  the  sick,  who  read  the 
creed  and  the  Scriptures  on  Sundays.  Around  the 
block-house  and  the  Company’s  counting-room  grew 
up  a settlement  of  small  log-huts  thatched  with 
reeds.  Before  the  little  village  lay  the  beautiful 
waters  of  the  harbour,  and  behind  it  the  unbroken 
forest.  Such  was  Fort  Amsterdam  in  1630.  The 
settlers  were  busily  and  profitably  occupied  with  the 
collection  of  furs  for  export,  sailing  up  the  river  in 
sloops,  and  making  journeys  into  the  woods  to  ex- 
change cloths  and  beads  from  Holland  for  beaver 
and  other  skins.  The  trade  grew  rapidly  at  first. 
In  1626  the  exports  were  valued  at  46,000  guilders; 
in  1632  they  were  worth  143,000  guilders,  showing 
the  Company  a profit  over  expenses.  And  the  in- 
dustry of  the  colony  was  not  confined  to  the  fur- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND,  ig 

trade.  A ship  of  six  hundred  tons  burden,  called 
the  “ New  Netherland,’'  was  built  at  Manhattan  in 
1631,  and  sent  home  loaded  with  peltry. 

Still,  the  Dutch  possessions  in  America  were  no 
more  than  trading-posts,  and  it  was  evident  that  the 
West  India  Company  was  unfitted  by  its  military  and 
commercial  character  for  the  task  of  planting  per- 
manent colonies.  At  the  same  time,  the  opposition 
already  made  by  the  English  government  to  the 
Dutch  settlements,  and  the  hostile  attitude  toward 
them  assumed  by  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
had  made  it  plain  that  actual  occupation  of  the  soil 
was  necessary  to  secure  possession.  The  Dutch  had 
little  surplus  population  inclined  to  emigrate,  and  no 
body  of  men,  like  the  English  Non-conformists,  who 
were  obliged  to  build  up  a home  in  a distant  wil- 
derness for  the  sake  of  religious  freedom.  There- 
fore, the  Directors  of  the  Company  had  to  devise  an 
artificial  method  of  colonization. 

The  people  of  Holland  were  divided  into  three 
classes : the  noble  families  owning  land ; the  bur- 
ghers who  controlled  the  cities,  and  the  common 
people.  Many  of  the  burghers  were  rich,  and 
sought  to  enter  the  highest  class  by  the  possession 
of  land  and  the  feudal  rights  connected  with  it. 
This  wish  could  not  be  gratified  in  Holland,  where 
the  limited  territory  was  held  tenaciously  by  its 
owners.  But  the  burgher  of  Amsterdam  or  The 
Hague  might  become  the  feudal  chief  of  an  Amer- 
icap  domain.  This  idea  was  embodied  in  the 
“ Charter  of  Privileges  and  Exemptions  ” adopted 
in  1630,  by  which  any  stockholder  in  the  West  India 


20 


PETER  SrUYVESA.VT. 


Company  who  should  plant  a colony  of  fifty  souls  in 
New  Netherland  was  to  acquire  title  to  land  six- 
teen miles  in  length  on  one  side  of  a river,  or  eight 
in  length  if  situated  on  both  sides,  and  as  far  into 
the  interior  as  the  owner  could  occupy.  Such  owner 
was  to  be  called  a “ Patroon,”  and  to  possess  the 
hereditary  rights  of  a feudal  noble,  — power  to  make 
laws,  to  establish  courts  of  justice,  and  to  control 
hunting,  fishing,  and  the  grinding  of  grains,  subject 
only  to  allegiance  to  the  States-General.  The 
patroons  were  allowed  to  trade  along  the  American 
coast,  and  with  Europe,  on  paying  a duty  of  five  per 
cent  on  the  cargoes  to  the  West  India  Company. 
The  fur-trade  was  permitted  on  condition  that  the 
exports  should  be  sent  through  the  Company’s  agents 
at  Manhattan.  Thus,  colonists  were  tempted  to  emi- 
grate by  free  transportation  and  the  promise  of  good 
lands  at  a nominal  rental,  while  rich  burghers  were 
tempted  to  assume  the  expense  involved  by  the  pro- 
spect of  attaining  the  dignity  of  feudal  lords.  This 
plan  seemed  especially  feasible,  as  wealth  had  lately 
been  pouring  into  the  coffers  of  the  West  India 
Company.  The  war  with  Spain  had  been  renewed 
after  the  expiration  of  the  truce  in  1621,  and  the 
Company  had  shown  itself  equal  to  the  East  India 
merchants  in  making  booty  of  Spanish  commerce. 
In  1628,  Peter  Heyn,  in  command  of  the  Com- 
pany’s squadron,  met  the  Spanish  “ silver  fleet  ” 
bearing  home  the  spoils  of  South  American  mines. 
Ten  galleons  were  captured  off  Havana  at  the  first 
encounter,  and  the  remainder  soon  after  in  Matanzas 
Bay.  Heyn  brought  in  all  the  Spanish  vessels  ex- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  21 


cept  two  as  prizes,  together  with  pure  silver  worth 
twelve  millions  of  guilders.  The  enthusiasm  was 
great  throughout  Holland,  and  the  West  India  Com- 
pany declared  a dividend  of  fifty  per  cent. 

Chief  among  those  who  now  sought  the  honours 
of  patroonship  was  Kiliaen  Van  Rensselaer,  a wealthy 
jeweller  of  Amsterdam.  In  1630,  he  purchased  from 
the  Indians,  through  the  Company’s  agent  at  Fort 
Orange,  a great  tract  of  land  lying  on  the  river  to 
the  north  and  south  of  the  fort.  He  made  good  his 
title  by  sending  out  emigrants,  and  thus  planted 
the  colony  of  Rensselaerwyck.  Two  other  directors 
of  the  Company,  Godyn  and  Blommaert,  secured 
lands  on  the  Delaware  or  South  River,  their  patent 
ante-dating  by  two  years  that  given  by  Charles  I.  to 
Lord  Baltimore.  Michael  Pauw  soon  afterward  pur- 
chased from  the  Indians  Staten  Island  and  Paulus 
Hook,  the  site  of  Jersey  City,  to  which  he  gave  the 
name  of  Pavonia.  But  the  rapidity  with  which  these 
enterprising  directors  had  seized  upon  the  best  terri- 
tory excited  so  much  jealousy  among  their  colleagues 
that  they  were  obliged  to  share  their  acquisitions 
with  other  members  of  the  Company  by  taking  them 
into  partnership.  The  same  jealousy  caused  the 
recall  of  Peter  Minuit,  who,  as  director,  had  con- 
firmed the  obnoxious  grants.  The  influence  of  Van 
Rensselaer  was  still  strong  enough  to  enable  him  to 
procure  the  appointment  to  the  directorship  of 
Wouter  van  Twiller,  who  had  married  his  niece,  and 
had  served  as  his  agent  in  shipping  colonists  and 
cattle  to  Rensselaerwyck,  but  who  was  only  a clerk 
in  the  Company’s  employment,  and  quite  unfit  for 
the  responsibility  of  the  post. 


22 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


Van  Twiller  arrived  in  New  Netherland  in  the 
spring  of  1633,  bringing  with  him  one  hundred  sol- 
diers,— the  first  military  garrison  of  the  place.  Other 
important  fellow-passengers  were  Everardus  Bogar- 
dus,  the  first  clergyman,  and  Adam  Roelandsen,  the 
first  schoolmaster.  Besides  these  were  two  emi- 
grants, Govert  Loockermans  and  Jacob  van  Cou- 
wenhoven,  destined  to  play  a leading  part  in  their 
adopted  country.  Van  Twiller  proceeded  to  spend 
the  Company’s  money  with  a generous  hand.  The 
room  over  the  mill,  hitherto  used  for  religious  ser- 
vices, was  now  too  small  for  the  growing  congrega- 
tion. A wooden  church  of  rude  design  was  built  at 
the  comer  of  Pearl  and  Broad  streets,  with  a house 
for  Domine  Bogardus,  overlooking  the  East  River. 
The  block-house  was  changed  into  something  like  a 
fort,  with  barracks  for  the  newly  arrived  soldiers. 
Three  windmills  were  set  up,  injudiciously  to  the 
north  of  the  fort,  where  they  lost  the  force  of  the 
south  wind.  Houses  were  built  for  the  director  and 
other  officers  of  the  Company,  for  the  cooper,  the 
smith,  and  the  midwife.  Van  Twiller  confirmed  the 
Company’s  title  to  land  on  the  west  of  the  Connecti- 
ticut  River  by  purchase  from  the  Indians,  and  to 
protect  the  claim,  erected  a fort  called  the  Good 
Hope  on  the  present  site  of  Hartford. 

In  1633,  a Dutch  sea-captain  named  De  Vries, 
who  had  entered  into  partnership  with  two  of  the 
Amsterdam  directors  for  the  establishment  of  a 
patroonship,  brought  his  vessel  to  Manhattan.  De 
Vries  belonged  to  the  class  of  bold  seamen  who  had 
rendered  such  great  ser\'ice  to  Holland,  and  he  forms 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  23 

the  most  interesting  figure  among  the  Dutchmen 
connected  with  the  early  history  of  New  Netherland. 
He  rejoiced  in  an  opportunity  to  lay  his  ship  along- 
side a Dunkirk  pirate,  and  thought  nothing  of  en- 
gaging two  or  three  Spaniards  at  once.  While  he 
was  making  the  acquaintance  of  Van  Twiller  and 
the  people  at  the  fort,  an  English  vessel  named  the 
“ William  ” came  up  the  Bay.  In  command  of  her 
was  Jacob  Elkens,  a Dutchman  formerly  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  West  India  Company  at  Fort  Orange  and 
dismissed  for  dishonesty  in  1623.  Having  entered 
the  service  of  Englishmen,  he  now  announced  his 
intention  to  take  the  “ William  ” up  the  river  to  his 
old  station,  to  trade  with  the  Indians.  Van  Twiller 
declared  that  the  river  belonged  to  the  West  India 
Company  of  Holland,  and  that  the  “ William  ” should 
not  go  up.  Elkens  replied  that  the  river  was  dis- 
covered by  an  Englishman,  and  that  he  should  carry 
out  his  intention.  Van  Twiller  displayed  the  Orange 
flag  at  the  fort,  and  fired  three  guns.  Elkens  ran 
up  the  English  flag  on  the  “ William,”  and  likewise 
fired  three  guns.  For  six  successive  days  Van 
Twiller  contemplated  the  English  vessel  riding  at 
anchor  with  a complacent  sense  of  his  authority. 
But  on  the  seventh  morning  the  “William  ” weighed 
anchor,  and  sailed  defiantly  past  the  fort.  She  was 
the  first  vessel  to  carry  the  English  flag  up  the 
Hudson  River.  Van  Twiller’s  rage  was  great,  and 
his  official  action  characteristic.  Calling  the  inhabi- 
tants into  the  fort,  he  tapped  a cask  of  beer  in  front 
of  his  house,  and  taking  a glass  himself,  he  called 
upon  the  others  to  drink  with  him,  and  to  protect 


24 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


him  from  the  violence  of  the  Englishmen.  The 
cask  was  soon  emptied,  amidst  laughter  and  jeers. 
De  Vries  looked  upon  the  scene  with  contemptuous 
indignation.  The  people,  he  declared,  would  al- 
ways help  the  director  in  that  way,  — they  would 
even  get  to  the  bottom  of  seven  casks  of  beer  to 
protect  him ; but  meanwhile  the  “ William  ” was 
ascending  the  river  unmolested.  Soon  after,  De 
Vries  taxed  Van  Twiller  in  private  with  his  folly. 
“If  it  had  been  my  case,”  he  continued,  “I  should 
have  helped  him  from  the  fort  to  some  eight-pound 
iron  beans,  and  have  prevented  him  from  going  up 
the  river.  The  English  are  of  so  haughty  a nature, 
they  think  ever}'thing  belongs  to  them.  I should 
send  the  ship  ‘ Soutberg  ’ after  him,  and  drive  him 
out  of  the  river.”  Stung  by  the  taunts  of  De  Vries, 
Van  Twiller  embarked  his  soldiers  on  the  “ Sout- 
berg,” a Dutch  vessel  lying  in  port,  and  overtook 
Elkens  while  trading  with  the  Indians.  With  their 
greatly  superior  force,  the  Dutch  had  no  difficulty  in 
confiscating  the  peltries  which  Elkens  had  purchased, 
and  in  expelling  his  ship  from  the  waters  of  Man- 
hattan. The  director  returned  from  this  expedition 
in  a vain-glorious  spirit,  and  looked  about  for  further 
opportunities  to  exercise  his  authority.  De  Vries 
ordered  his  yacht  “ The  Squirrel  ” to  go  through 
Hell  Gate  to  the  East  on  a trading- voyage,  as  he  had 
a right  to  do  in  his  quality  of  patroon.  Van  Twiller 
forbade  “ The  Squirrel  ” to  proceed,  and  ordered  the 
guns  of  the  fort  to  be  trained  on  the  little  vessel. 
At  this,  De  Vries  ran  up  to  the  fort.  “ The  countr)' 
is  full  of  fools,”  he  called  out  to  the  director  and 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  25 


his  secretary.  “ Why  did  you  not  shoot  when  the 
Englishman  violated  your  river?”  The  abashed 
director  withdrew  his  order,  and  “The  Squirrel” 
proceeded.  Soon  after,  when  De  Vries’s  boat  was 
lying  on  the  beach  waiting  to  convey  the  captain  to 
his  ship.  Van  Twiller  insisted  that  De  Vries  should 
not  depart  until  his  vessel  had  been  searched  by  the 
officers  of  the  West  India  Company.  Twelve  sol- 
diers were  sent  down  to  the  shore  to  stop  the  boat. 
De  Vries  jumped  in,  and  ordered  his  men  to  pull  off 
without  regard  to  the  soldiers,  who  “ were  ridiculed 
with  shouts  and  jeers  by  all  the  by-standers.”  De 
Vries  left  Manhattan  after  his  first  visit  with  a low 
opinion  of  the  Company’s  officials.  “ They  know 
nothing,”  he  declared,  “but  about  drinking.  In 
the  East  Indies  they  would  not  serve  for  assistants ; 
but  the  West  India  Company  sends  out  at  once, 
as  great  masters  of  folks,  persons  who  never  had 
any  command  before ; therefore  it  must  come  to 
naught.” 

Van  Twiller’s  alternate  pusillanimity  and  tyranny 
made  him  an  unpopular  director.  Dominie  Bogar- 
dus  felt  called  upon  to  threaten  him  with  “ such  a 
shake  from  the  pulpit  as  would  make  him  shudder.” 
His  honesty  was  not  unquestioned.  When  replaced 
by  Wilhelm  Kieft  in  1637,  he  hired  two  of  the 
Company’s  best  boweries,  or  farms  ; and  it  happened 
that  upon  these  particular  boweries  had  strayed 
nearly  all  the  Company’s  cattle,  although  their  pre- 
vious habit  had  been  to  wander  over  other  parts 
of  the  island.  Van  Twiller  claimed  and  kept  them 
as  his  own  property.  During  his  administration  the 


26 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


population  had  increased ; but  the  emigrants  were 
chiefly  traders,  who  looked  to  peltry  instead  of  to 
agriculture  for  their  maintenance,  so  that  the  colony 
could  not  support  itself  without  supplies  from  Hol- 
land, which  the  Company  had  to  send  out  at  great 
expense. 

The  new  director  proved  himself  to  be  a yet 
more  unfortunate  selection.  Wilhelm  Kieft  was  a 
bankrupt  merchant  of  Amsterdam,  whose  portrait, 
in  accordance  with  Dutch  custom,  had  been  nailed 
on  the  gallows.  There  were  dark  rumours,  also,  of  his 
having  been  sent  to  Turkey  with  money  to  ransom 
Christian  captives,  and  of  his  having  appropriated 
the  money,  leaving  the  captives  to  their  fate.  The 
inferior  character  of  the  agents  appointed  by  the 
West  India  Company  — upon  which  De  Vries  had 
commented  — was  the  result  of  two  circumstances  : 
the  wide  field  of  Dutch  activity  at  the  time  caused 
a scarcity  of  available  men,  and  the  best  material 
was  required  at  points  where  there  was  fighting  as 
well  as  trading  to  be  done.  Kieft  arrived  at  New 
Amsterdam  in  the  spring  of  1638,  and  his  early 
labours  were  suggestive  of  the  new  broom.  He 
placed  on  record  the  condition  in  which  he  found 
the  settlement : the  fort  in  decay,  the  guns  dis- 
mounted of  the  three  windmills,  one  burned, 
another  useless ; the  church  and  the  counting-house 
out  of  repair.  The  prosecution  of  the  fur-trade  by 
individual  settlers  had  prevented  agricultural  de- 
velopment, and  had  cut  down  the  profits  of  the 
Company’s  monopoly. 

Kieft  reorganized  the  administration.  Cornelius 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  27 


van  Tienhoven  (formerly  the  book-keeper)  became 
provincial  secretary,  — a good  choice  only  so  far  as 
his  handwriting  was  considered.  The  Council  was 
improved  by  the  addition  of  Johannes  de  la  Mon- 
tague, a Huguenot  physician  of  high  character. 
The  Company’s  buildings  were  repaired,  a strenuous 
prohibition  was  issued  against  the  participation  of 
private  persons  in  the  fur-trade,  and  the  morals  of 
the  people,  which  their  isolated  condition  had  caused 
to  degenerate  below  the  standard  of  the  fatherland, 
were  regulated  to  some  degree. 

At  the  same  time  the  States-General  of  Holland 
interfered  in  the  management  of  the  colony  much 
to  its  advantage.  The  West  India  Company  sent 
out  few  persons  besides  its  clerks  and  fur-buyers ; 
the  patroonships  had  failed  as  a colonizing  system, 
with  the  single  exception  of  Rensselaerwyck.  Real- 
izing that  under  the  Company’s  narrow  commercial 
policy  the  fertile  province  of  New  Netherland  re- 
mained undeveloped  while  the  colonies  of  New 
England  advanced  with  rapid  strides,  the  States- 
General  abolished  the  exclusive  privileges  of  the 
Company,  and  threw  open  the  Hudson  River  trade 
to  all  comers.  The  loss  of  its  monopoly  forced  the 
directors  into  agricultural  colonization  as  a means  of 
giving  value  to  their  lands.  Tempting  inducements 
to  farmers  were  now  held  out : the  Company’s  ves- 
sels conveyed  colonists  without  charge,  and  land 
ready  for  the  plow,  together  with  the  use  of  house, 
barn,  and  cattle,  were  promised  at  a low  rental. 
These  changes  of  management  produced  an  imme- 
diate effect.  Various  persons  employed  by  the  Com- 


28 


PETER  STUYVESANT 


pany  at  Manhattan  left  its  service  to  take  up  farms ; 
others  established  themselves  in  trade,  exporting 
peltries,  and  importing  clothing  and  provisions. 
Private  vessels  arrived,  giving  to  the  Bay  a new 
animation.  Farmers  in  considerable  numbers  em- 
igrated from  Holland,  settling  at  Manhattan,  at 
Paulus  Hook,  and  on  Long  Island.  In  a few  years 
Kieft  had  a thriving  colony  to  govern.  Among  the 
arrivals  were  men  who  brought  property  with  them. 
Cornelius  Melyn,  the  new  patroon  of  Staten  Island, 
settled  there  with  his  family ; Jochem  Pietersen 
Kuyter,  who  had  seen  service  in  the  East  Indies, 
established  a bowery  on  the  Haarlem  River;  Dr. 
La  Montagne  took  up  a farm  which  he  called 
“ Vredendal,”  — the  Valley  of  Peace,  — described 
as  lying  “ between  the  hills  and  the  kills  and  a point 
on  the  East  River  called  ‘ Rechgawanes  ; ’ ” Abra- 
ham Isaacsen  Verplanck  settled  at  Paulus  Hook; 
four  brothers  named  Evertsen  cultivated  tobacco  at 
Pavonia,  and  had  a tannery  on  Manhattan  Island ; 
Nicholas  Koorn  (the  sergeant),  Hans  Kierstede 
(the  surgeon),  Jacob  van  Curler  (the  inspector  of 
merchandise),  and  David  Provoost  (the  commis- 
sary), had  small  houses  close  to  the  fort.  Among 
the  soldiers  in  the  barracks  was  Oloff  Stevensen, 
the  founder  of  the  Van  Cortlandt  family ; Gyspert 
Op  Dyck  had  charge  of  Fort  Good  Hope,  on  the 
Connecticut  River ; Hendrick  and  Isaac  de  Forest 
began  farming ; De  Vries,  the  bold  sea-captain, 
sailed  from  the  Texel  with  a small  colony,  which  he 
established  on  Staten  Island.  In  1640  an  impetus 
to  the  colony  was  given  by  a new  charter  agreed 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  29 

upon  by  the  States-General  and  the  West  India 
Company,  the  liberal  provisions  of  which  removed 
many  of  the  obstacles  to  colonization  created  by 
the  Company’s  exclusive  powers.  Henceforth  any 
inhabitant  of  New  Netherland  could  take  up  lands 
for  his  own  use ; towns  could  be  formed  with  the 
privilege  of  municipal  government ; and  commer- 
cial freedom  was  promised  to  all  persons,  subject 
only  to  export  and  import  duties  payable  to  the 
Company.  De  Vries,  who  had  lately  explored 
the  beautiful  shores  of  the  Hudson,  purchased  from 
the  Indians  a tract  at  Tappan,  which  he  called 
“ Vriesendael,”  containing  meadow-land  enough  to 
pasture  two  hundred  head  of  cattle,  and  a fine 
stream.  Not  far  from  De  Vries’s  new  home,  and 
bordering  on  the  Achter  Cul,  or  Newark  Bay, 
Myndert  van  der  Horst,  of  Utrecht,  established  a 
bowery.  The  settlement  of  Gravesend  was  begun 
by  a Huguenot  named  Anthony  Salee,  who  obtained 
two  hundred  acres  opposite  Coney  Island.  The 
site  of  Brooklyn  (then  called  Marechkaweick)  was 
occupied  only  by  an  Englishman  named  Thomas 
Belcher.  Two  of  his  countrymen,  George  Holmes 
and  Thomas  Hall,  lived  at  Deutel  (since  called 
Turtle  Bay),  a cove  on  the  East  River,  about  two 
miles  above  Corker’s  Hook. 

The  province  of  New  Netherland  soon  assumed  a 
cosmopolitan  character.  Colonists  arrived  from  Vir- 
ginia, introducing  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  and  the 
cherry  and  peach  trees  which  afterward  became  so 
abundant.  The  severity  of  religious  censorship  in 
New  England  sent  many  of  its  inhabitants  to  seek 


30 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


among  the  Dutch  the  liberty  denied  to  them  at 
home.  Among  these  was  John  Underhill,  distin- 
guished in  the  Pequod  War.  Persecuted  English- 
men from  Lynn  and  Ipswich  settled  on  Long  Island 
in  1641.  Francis  Doughty,  expelled  from  Cohasset 
for  preaching  that  Abraham’s  children  should  have 
been  baptized,  founded  the  town  of  Mespath,  L.  L, 
in  1642.  John  Throgmorton,  with  thirty-five  Eng- 
lish families,  was  given  land  at  Westchester.  Anne 
Hutchinson  and  her  son-in-law,  the  zealous  Collins, 
fleeing  before  the  vengeance  of  Massachusetts,  found 
their  last  home  at  Annie’s  Hoeck,  now  called  Pel- 
ham Neck,  where  the  neighbouring  Hutchinson’s 
River  still  preserves  the  memory  of  the  remarkable 
woman  and  her  tragic  fate.  The  foreigners  who 
came  to  New  Netherland  were  subjected  to  no  re- 
strictions beyond  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  States-General.  So  considerable  became  the 
demand  for  land  that  Kieft  purchased  from  the  In- 
dians the  western  part  of  Long  Island,  extending 
from  Rockaway  to  Sicktewhacky,  or  Fire  Island  Bay, 
on  the  south  side,  and  on  the  north  to  Martin  Ger- 
ritsen’s,  near  Cow  Bay. 

After  1640,  Manhattan  began  to  assume  more  of 
the  appearance  of  a town.  Fairs  for  the  exchange 
of  agricultural  products  were  held  periodically  near 
the  fort.  Most  of  the  business  was  done  by  barter ; 
but  beaver-skins,  and  the  Indian  beads  called 
“seawant,”  served  as  a medium  of  exchange.  The 
best  seawant  in  America  was  made  by  the  Long  Is- 
land Indians,  who  picked  up  a superior  supply  of 
shells  on  their  long  beaches.  “ Good,  splendid 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHA  TTAN  ISLAND.  3 I 


seawant,  usually  called  Manhattan’s  seawant,”  were 
worth,  when  strung,  four  beads  to  a stiver,  or  an 
English  penny.  But  loose  beads  were  generally  of 
an  inferior  quality,  were  regarded  as  a debased  cur- 
rency, and  valued  only  at  six  to  a stiver.  The  dom- 
ine  had  occasion  to  complain  that  contributions 
at  church  were  too  frequently  made  in  loose  seawant. 
Fort  Amsterdam  became  a stopping  place  for  travel- 
lers between  New  England  and  Virginia,  the  coast- 
ing vessels  regularly  putting  in  to  the  Bay  to  trade. 
The  number  of  visitors  thus  requiring  hospitalities 
at  the  fort  became  embarrassing  to  Kieft,  and  in 
1642  he  built  a stone  “ Harberg,”  or  hotel,  on  the 
shore  of  the  East  River,  at  the  corner  of  Coenties 
Lane  and  Pearl  Street,  opposite  Coenties  Slip.  The 
need  of  a new  church  had  been  felt  by  many  per- 
sons besides  Domine  Bogardus,  and  the  energy  of 
De  Vries  brought  about  its  construction.  Dining 
one  day  with  Kieft  in  the  Fort,  he  told  the  director 
that  it  was  a shame  to  the  community  that  visiting 
Englishmen  should  see  the  “ mean  barn  ” in  which 
the  domine  preached ; that  in  New  England  a fine 
church  was  always  built  immediately  after  the  dwel- 
ling-houses. “ We  should  do  the  like  ; we  have  fine 
oak  wood,  good  mountain  stone,  and  excellent  lime, 
which  we  burn  from  oyster  shells,  — much  better 
than  our  lime  in  Holland.”  De  Vries  supported  his 
plea  by  a subscription  of  a hundred  guilders ; and 
Kieft,  mindful  of  the  fact  that  the  people  of  Rensse- 
laerwyck  were  taking  steps  to  build  a new  church, 
consented  to  give  a thousand  guilders  on  behalf  of 
the  Company.  The  construction  was  confided  to  the 


32 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


care  of  Kieft,  De  Vries,  Jan  Jansen  Dam,  who  lived 
conveniently  near  the  Fort,  and  Jochem  Pieter- 
sen  Kuyter,  “ a devout  professor  of  the  Reformed 
religion.”  It  was  decided  to  have  the  church  in- 
side the  fort  for  greater  protection  against  the  In- 
dians. To  raise  the  necessary  funds  then  became 
a difficulty  which  the  cunning  of  Kieft  overcame. 
A daughter  of  Domine  Bogardus  was  about  to  be 
married.  At  the  wedding  feast,  “ after  the  fourth 
or  fifth  round  of  drinking,”  Kieft  announced  the 
worthy  project  in  hand,  and  produced  the  subscrip- 
tion list  headed  by  his  own  name  and  that  of  De 
Vries.  Amid  the  expansive  enthusiasm  of  the  occa- 
sion the  company  subscribed  “ richly.”  Not  a few, 
as  the  chronicles  record,  “ well  repented  it  ” on  the 
morrow  ; but  “ nothing  availed  to  excuse.”  The  con- 
tracts called  for  a stone  church,  in  length  seventy-two 
feet,  in  width  fifty,  and  in  height  sixteen.  John  and 
Richard  Ogden  of  Stamford  did  the  work  for  twenty- 
five  hundred  guilders,  with  a hundred  added  for 
doing  it  well.  English  carpenters  covered  the  roof 
with  oak  shingles,  and  completed  the  finest  building 
in  New  Netherland.  The  words,  “Anno  Domini, 
1642,  William  Kieft  Director-General,  hath  the 
Commonalty  built  this  Temple,”  were  cut  in  a stone 
on  the  front  wall.  The  congregation  worshipped 
here  until  1693,  when  it  removed  to  Garden  Street 
(now  Exchange  Place).  The  building  was  used 
then  by  the  military  until  its  destruction  by  fire  in 
1741.  In  I 790,  workmen,  digging  the  foundations 
for  the  Government  House  on  the  southern  end  of 
the  Bowling  Green,  uncovered  the  stone  in  which  the 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  33 

inscription  had  been  cut.  It  was  set  up  inside  the 
Garden  Street  church,  and  there  remained  to  share 
the  fate  of  that  church  in  the  great  fire  of  1835. 

The  commercial  system  upon  which  the  little 
Dutch  colony  had  been  established  contained  ele- 
ments of  weakness,  which  were  soon  to  turn  pros- 
perity into  ruin.  The  New  England  colonies  were 
peopled  by  independent  men,  who  came  prepared 
to  brave  every  hardship  in  a country  which  they  in- 
tended to  make  the  home  of  themselves  and  their 
descendants  forever.  They  were  bound  together  by 
powerful  religious  ties.  To  them  success  meant 
liberty  of  conscience  and  a living  wrung  from  the 
soil  of  their  adopted  country  by  self-denying  toil. 
But  the  Dutch  had  won  the  right  to  worship  God  in 
their  own  land  and  in  their  own  way  before  the  “ Half 
Moon”  had  sailed  into  the  Hudson  River.  They  had 
neither  the  religious  incentive  nor  the  religious  ties 
of  their  neighbours.  Moreover,  the  establishment 
of  a permanent  home  in  America  was  to  them,  in 
those  early  days,  an  object  subordinate  to  the  im- 
mediate profits  of  the  fur-trade.  Instead  of  the 
complete  independence  and  self-reliance  of  the 
English  colonists,  they  had  the  serious  drawback 
of  their  subjection  to  a private  commercial  Com- 
pany, and  the  habit  of  looking  to  that  distant  _ 
power,  rather  than  to  their  own  efforts,  for  em- 
ployment and  aid. 

The  requirements  of  the  fur-trade  caused  an  all- 
important  difference  in  the  policy  pursued  toward 
the  Indians  by  the  English  and  the  Dutch.  The 
New  England  people  sought  to  avoid  complications 


3 


34 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


by  keeping  the  savages  at  arm’s  length.  When  in- 
volved in  troubles  with  them,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Pequod  War  in  1637,  they  took  the  offensive  at 
once,  and  by  a vigorous  display  of  power  procured  a 
peace  of  forty  years.  But  it  was  to  the  Indians  that 
the  Dutch  looked  for  the  supply  of  furs  upon  which 
their  gains  depended.  For  the  better  prosecution 
of  the  trade,  the  Hollanders  made  long  journeys 
into  the  woods  and  encouraged  the  visits  of  the 
Indians  to  Manhattan.  As  competition  increased, 
the  traders  sought  to  be  nearer  the  base  of  supply, 
and  made  settlements  at  great  distances  from  the 
fort,  thus  extending  dangerously  the  population  of 
the  colony.  The  Indians  visiting  at  the  fort  were 
treated  too  indulgently,  allowed  to  lounge  about,  get 
drunk  at  the  taverns,  quarrel  with  one  another  and 
the  Dutch,  and  worst  of  all  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  slender  defensive  resources  of  the  settle- 
ment. The  savages,  who  at  first  dreaded  a gun  as 
“ the  devil,”  no  sooner  understood  its  uses,  than 
their  eagerness  to  possess  one  made  arms  and  am- 
munition the  most  profitable  medium  of  exchange. 
The  traders  could  not  resist  such  a temptation  as 
the  offer  of  twenty  beaver-skins  for  a gun.  The 
people  at  Rensselaerwyck  pushed  this  trade  so  far 
that  the  Mohawk  nation  was  soon  supplied  with 
firearms,  by  the  help  of  which  they  exacted  tribute 
from  the  terror-stricken  • tribes  of  Canada,  New 
England,  and  the  Hudson  River.  At  Manhattan, 
strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  prevent  the  sale  of 
guns  to  the  neighbouring  savages.  But  this  prohi- 
bition so  greatly  aided  the  tyranny  of  the  Mohawks, 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANLIATTAN  ISLAND.  35 


that  the  river  tribes  became  exasperated  at  what 
they  deemed  the  unjust  advantages  accorded  to 
their  enemies  by  the  Dutch. 

In  1640,  when  the  friendship  of  the  savages  had 
become  somewhat  alienated  by  this  quarrel,  the 
headstrong  Kieft  was  foolish  enough  to  arouse  their 
active  hostility.  Finding  himself  short  of  provisions, 
he  proceeded  to  levy  a tribute  of  corn  upon  the 
river  tribes  on  the  pretext  that  the  Dutch  protected 
them  against  their  enemies.  As  we  learn  from  De 
Vries,  the  Indians  refused  the  payment,  on  just 
grounds.  The  Dutch  had  never  protected  them 
against  the  oppression  of  the  Mohawks.  “ Kieft,” 
they  said,  “ must  be  a very  shabby  fellow ; he  had 
come  to  live  in  their  land  uninvited,  and  now  sought 
to  deprive  them  of  their  corn  for  nothing.”  They  had 
paid  for  everything  obtained  from  the  Dutch ; when 
the  Hollanders,  “having  lost  a ship  there,  built  a 
new  one  [the  “Restless”],  they  had  supplied  them 
with  food  and  other  necessaries,  and  had  taken  care 
of  them  for  two  winters  until  the  ship  was  finished. 
...  If  we  have  ceded  to  you  the  country  you  are  liv- 
ing in,”  they  concluded,  “ we  yet  remain  masters 
of  what  we  have  retained  for  ourselves.”  The 
estrangement  brought  about  by  the  injudicious  de- 
mands of  the  director  soon  entailed  more  serious 
complications.  A trading  party  in  the  Raritan  coun- 
try complained  of  having  been  attacked  by  savages  ; 
and  the  theft  of  some  hogs  on  Staten  Island  was  too 
hastily  attributed  to  the  same  source.  The  Dutch 
were  inclined  to  treat  the  Indians  well,  and  these 
difficulties  might  have  been  smoothed  over.  But 


36 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


Kieft,  as  the  Company’s  director,  had  absolute  au- 
thority in  this  matter,  and  he  had  resolved  upon  a 
violent  policy.  He  now  sent  a party  of  seventy  men 
into  the  Raritan  country  to  seek  reparation  or  re- 
venge. Van  Tienhoven,  the  secretary,  who  was 
placed  in  command,  shared  the  director’s  animosity 
toward  the  Indians,  and  allowed  his  men  to  kill  and 
plunder  without  attempting  a peaceful  negotiation. 
By  such  ill-advised  injustice  was  made  inevitable  a 
condition  of  active  war.  It  was  not  long  before  the 
Raritanshad  responded  by  burning  DeVries’s  build- 
ings on  Staten  Island,  killing  four  of  his  men,  and 
thus  destroying  that  promising  colony. 

While  this  unnecessary  quarrel  with  the  Raritans 
was  in  progress,  an  avoidable  difficulty  arose  with 
the  Weckquaesgeeks  of  Westchester.  About  ten 
years  before  this  time  a Weckquaesgeek,  accom- 
panied by  his  youthful  nephew,  was  bringing  peltry 
to  New  Amsterdam  for  sale.  Some  rough  Dutch- 
men met  them  in  the  woods  near  the  Kolck  (a  pond 
on  the  site  of  the  Tombs  prison),  murdered  and 
robbed  the  Indian,  but  allowed  the  boy  to  escape. 
The  latter,  having  grown  to  manhood,  savage  cus- 
tom required  that  he  should  avenge  the  death  of 
his  kinsman.  In  August,  1641,  in  pursuance  of  his 
obligation,  he  came  down  the  trail  to  Manhattan, 
which  skirted  the  East  River.  In  the  woods  near 
Deutel  Bay  stood  the  lonely  cottage  of  Claes,  the 
smith.  The  Weckquaesgeek  entered,  offered  a 
beaver  in  trade,  and  when  the  smith  stooped  to 
take  an  article  from  his  chest,  he  killed  him  at  a 
blow.  The  demands  of  the  Dutch  for  the  surrender 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  37 


of  the  murderer  were  met  by  a relation  of  the  pro- 
vocation and  the  claim  of  a just  revenge.  This  cir- 
cumstance was  the  more  unfortunate,  in  that  it  gave 
Kieft  an  excuse  for  the  policy  of  violence  upon 
which  he  was  resolved.  The  community  was  averse 
to  extreme  measures.  The  boweries  were  scattered 
and  defenceless ; while  the  people  living  about  the 
fort  might  be  secure,  the  outlying  settlements  were 
in  danger  of  instant  destruction.  As  De  Vries  de- 
clared, “ It  would  not  be  advisable  to  attack  the 
Indians  until  we  have  more  people,  like  the  English, 
who  have  built  towns  and  villages.”  Moreover, 
there  were  not  a few  men  in  New  Amsterdam  who 
accused  the  director  of  seeking  a war  to  conceal 
irregularities  in  his  accounts  with  the  Company. 
Others,  again,  reminded  him  that  hostilities  were 
not  as  attractive  to  them  as  to  the  official  “ who 
could  secure  his  own  life  in  a good  fort,  out  of  which 
he  had  not  slept  a single  night  in  all  the  years  he 
had  been  there.”  In  face  of  this  opposition,  Kieft 
endeavoured  to  shift  as  much  responsibility  as  he 
could  upon  other  shoulders.  Calling  together  the 
heads  of  families,  he  submitted  to  them  the  question 
whether  or  not  the  murder  of  Claes  Smits  should  be 
avenged  by  the  destruction  of  the  village  to  which 
the  assassin  belonged.  This,  the  first  popular  assem- 
bly held  upon  the  territory  of  New  York,  elected 
twelve  men  to  decide  the  question.  These  were 
Jacques  Bentyn,  Maryn  Adriaensen,  Jan  Jansen  Dam, 
Hendrick  Jansen,  David  Pietersen  de  Vries,  Jacob 
Stoffelsen,  Abram  Molenaar,  Frederik  Lubbertsen, 
Jochem  Pietersen  Kuyter,  Gerrit  Dircksen,  George 


38 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


Rapelje,  and  Abram  Verplanck.  The  Twelve  Men 
gave  as  the  result  of  their  deliberations  that  “ the 
director  send  further,  once,  twice,  yea,  for  the  third 
time,  a shallop,  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the 
murderer  in  a friendly  manner.”  This  failing,  re- 
venge should  be  sought,  but  with  a proper  regard 
to  “ God  and  the  opportunity.”  It  would  not  do  to 
bring  a sudden  war  upon  the  scattered  population. 
Peaceful  relations  should  be  kept  up,  and  meanwhile 
the  director  should  prepare  arms  for  the  soldiers 
and  freemen.  Finally,  in  case  war  became  unavoid- 
able, they  hinted  that  Kieft  himself  “ ought  to  lead 
the  van.” 

The  director  was  little  pleased  with  this  result. 
In  January,  1642,  he  called  the  Tw'elve  Men  to- 
gether again,  represented  to  them  that  the  mur- 
derer of  Claes  had  not  been  surrendered,  and  that 
a favourable  moment  for  reprisals  had  arrived,  the 
Indians  being  dispersed  on  their  hunting  expeditions. 
Kieft’s  authority  was  nearly  unrestricted  in  the  col- 
ony. The  Council  which  should  have  limited  it  had 
but  one  member.  Dr.  La  Montagne.  The  reader 
will  recollect  occasions  in  history  when,  on  a greater 
scene  and  in  more  important  emergencies,  the 
monarch  who  has  sought  the  assistance  of  his  sub- 
jects for  the  prosecution  of  war  has  been  forced  to 
grant  reforms  as  a preliminary  condition.  In  this 
situation  the  director  of  New  Netherland  now  found 
himself.  The  Twelve  Men,  instead  of  giving  the 
expected  consent,  demanded  some  of  the  political 
privileges  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  in 
Holland.  Four  representatwes,  elected  by  the  peo- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  39 


pie,  should  sit  on  the  Council  Board  to  save  “ the 
land  from  oppression ; ” the  militia  should  be  pro- 
perly organized ; and  every  freeman  should  have 
liberty  to  visit  and  to  trade  with  vessels  arriving  in 
port.  Kieft  promised  these  concessions,  meaning 
never  to  carry  them  out.  The  Twelve  Men  then 
gave  their  consent  to  an  expedition  against  the 
Weckquaesgeeks.  This  point  secured,  the  director 
announced  that  he  did  not  consider  that  the  Twelve 
had  “ received  from  the  Commonalty  larger  powers 
than  simply  to  give  their  advice  regarding  the  murder 
of  the  late  Claes  Smits.”  He  then  issued  a procla- 
mation in  form,  dissolving  the  Twelve  and  forbidding 
further  political  meetings  of  the  people,  as  tending 
“ to  dangerous  consequences  and  to  the  great  injury 
both  of  the  country  and  of  our  authority.” 

The  long  talked-of  expedition  against  the  Weck- 
quaesgeeks took  place  in  March.  Kieft  declined 
“ to  lead  the  van,”  and  the  command  devolved  upon 
Ensign  Hendrick  van  Dyck.  The  guide  missed 
his  way,  the  soldiers  wandered  aimlessly  about,  and 
returned  to  the  fort  without  firing  a shot.  The  In- 
dians, discovering  from  the  Dutch  trail  the  danger 
from  which  they  had  escaped,  now  sent  messengers 
to  Manhattan  to  sue  for  peace.  Van  Tienhoven, 
the  secretary,  went  to  Westchester,  and  at  the 
house  of  Jonas  Bronck,  on  the  Bronx  River,  a treaty 
was  arranged,  by  which  the  Weckquaesgeeks  agreed 
to  surrender  the  murderer.  This  promise  was  not 
fulfilled;  but  the  treaty  served  to  maintain  peace 
for  some  months. 

The  year  1643  opened  ominously.  In  both  New 


40 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


England  and  New  Netherland  prevailed  a vague 
terror  of  impending  Indian  troubles.  The  great 
sachem  Miantonomoh  was  reported  to  be  circulat- 
ing among  all  the  tribes  to  organize  a general  attack 
upon  the  whites.  The  inhabitants  of  the  boweries 
distant  from  Manhattan  looked  anxiously  into  the 
forests  about  them,  hardly  doubting  from  day  to  day 
that  the  war-whoop  would  resound  from  them.  In 
an  atmosphere  so  charged  with  alarms,  a slight  in- 
cident might  have  grave  results.  One  day  in  Janu- 
ary De  Vries  was  strolling  about  the  woods  near 
Vriesendael,  gun  on  shoulder,  in  search  of  game. 
Suddenly  an  Indian,  excited  by  drink,  approached 
the  patroon,  “ stroked  him  over  the  arms  as  a sign 
of  good-will,”  and  thus  addressed  him  : “ You  are 
a good  chief ; when  we  visit  you,  you  give  us  milk 
to  drink  for  nothing.  But  I have  just  come  from 
Hackinsack,  where  they  sold  me  brandy  half  mixed 
with  water,  and  then  stole  my  beaver-skin  coat.” 
Notwithstanding  the  patroon’s  remonstrances,  the 
injured  savage  declared  that  he  should  get  his  bow 
and  arrows,  and  kill  one  of  the  “ roguish  Swanne- 
kins.”  De  Vries,  fearful  of  trouble,  hastened  over 
to  Hackinsack,  Van  der  Horst’s  bowery,  and  warned 
the  inhabitants  of  the  danger  which  their  conduct 
had  provoked.  On  his  return  to  Vriesendael,  there 
appeared  several  chiefs  of  the  Hackinsacks  and 
Rechawancks,  who  related  that  the  harm  had  al- 
ready been  done.  The  Indian  had  shot  a Dutchman 
named  Garret  Jansen  van  Voorst,  at  Hackinsack,  as 
he  was  thatching  a roof.  The  chiefs  had  hastened  to 
Vriesendael  to  offer  the  blood  atonement  of  money 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  /SLANT.  41 


(the  usual  Indian  expiation  of  murder),  and  to  se- 
cure the  mediation  of  De  Vries  in  favour  of  peace. 
The  latter,  knowing  the  provocation  received  by  the 
murderer,  and  that  the  choice  lay  between  the  ac- 
ceptance of  these  well-meant  offers  and  a bloody 
war,  himself  accompanied  the  Indians  to  the  fort, 
and  supported  their  cause.  They  had  much  to 
plead  in  their  favour.  “ Why  do  you  sell  brandy 
to  our  young  men?”  they  said  to  Kieft.  “They 
are  not  used  to  it ; it  makes  them  crazy.  Even 
your  own  people,  who  are  accustomed  to  strong 
liquors,  sometimes  become  drunk,  and  fight  with 
knives.  Sell  no  more  strong  drink  to  the  Indians, 
if  you  would  avoid  mischief.”  To  their  offer  of 
atonement  to  the  widow,  Kieft  would  not  listen. 
The  person  of  the  murderer  must  be  surrendered. 
The  Indians  replied  that  this  they  could  not  do  : 
he  had  gone  off  two  days’  journey  among  the  Tan- 
kitekes.  Thus  the  efforts  of  De  Vries  to  preserve 
peace  were  foiled  by  the  obstinacy  and  bad  judgment 
of  Kieft. 

In  February,  the  Mohawks,  armed  with  the  guns 
obtained  from  the  traders  at  Rensselaerwyck,  made 
their  annual  descent  upon  the  Algonquin  tribes,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Manhattan,  to  plunder  and  levy 
tribute.  De  Vries  awoke  one  morning  to  find  his 
bowery  filled  with  hundreds  of'  starved  and  terror- 
stricken  fugitives,  seeking  food  and  protection  from 
the  Mohawks.  He  had  but  five  men  besides  him- 
self to  defend  Vriesendael.  It  was  the  depth  of 
winter,  and  the  river  was  full  of  floating  ice.  But  he 
embarked  alone  in  a canoe,  and  made  his  way  pain- 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


42  . 

fully  to  Manhattan,  where  he  asked  the  director  for 
the  assistance  of  a few  soldiers.  Kieft  refused  it. 
Almost  immediately  large  numbers  of  fugitive  In- 
dians, including  many  from  Vriesendael,  camped 
with  the  Hackinsacks  near  the  oyster  banks  of 
Pavonia,  depending  in  their  danger  upon  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Dutch  at  the  fort.  The  wise  De 
Vries  saw  the  opportunity  offered  by  this  emergency 
to  win  the  lasting  gratitude  and  friendship  of  the 
savages.  He  pointed  out  earnestly  to  Kieft  that  by 
affording  these  people  in  their  hour  of  suffering  the 
assistance  they  asked,  the  disputes  of  the  past  would 
be  forgotten,  and  a permanent  peace  secured. 

But  Kieft  had  neither  wisdom  nor  humanity. 
Hatred  of  the  savages  and  love  of  revenge  hurried 
him  on  his  fatal  course.  The  measures  to  be  taken 
were  concerted  in  secret  with  some  of  his  boon 
companions.  Accompanied  by  Van  Tienhoven,  he 
went  to  dine  at  the  house  of  Jan  Jansen  Dam,  and 
there  met  Verplanck  and  Adriaensen,  — two  oth- 
ers who  had  belonged  to  the  Twelve  Men.  After 
dinner,  the  wily  Van  Tienhoven  presented  to  the 
director  a petition  which  purported  to  come  from 
the  Twelve  Men.  In  this,  it  was  urged  that  the 
murderers  of  Smits  and  of  Van  Voorst  had  not  been 
given  up,  that  circumstances  had  placed  the  savages 
in  the  power  of  the  Dutch,  and  that  a favourable 
moment  had  arrived  to  snatch  an  easy  vengeance. 
The  men  there  present  had  no  right  to  speak  for 
the  Twelve,  whom  Kieft  had  formally  dissoDed  in  the 
previous  year ; but  the  excuse  of  the  petition  was 
enough  for  the  purposes  of  the  bloodthirsty  direc- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  /SLANT).  43 

tor.  Van  Tienhoven  and  Corporal  Hans  Steen  were 
sent  to  reconnoitre  the  position  of  the  Indians-,  and 
to  plan  the  attack.  There  was  no  lack  of  opposition 
to  these  proceedings.  Domine  Bogardus  protested 
vehemently ; La  Montagne  foretold  that  “ war 
would  stalk  through  the  whole  country.”  De  Vries 
learned  of  the  proceedings  at  Dam’s  house  with 
disgust  and  dismay.  He  went  immediately  to  the 
fort,  and  as  a former  member  of  the  Twelve  denied 
that  that  body  had  given  its  consent  or  had  even 
been  consulted.  In  vain  he  pointed  out  to  Kieft  the 
folly  of  his  course,  and  the  certainty  that  the  scat- 
tered settlers,  taken  unawares,  would  be  massacred 
on  their  boweries.  But  the  director  would  reply 
only  that  his  measures  had  been  taken  with  the 
consent  of  the  Commonalty,  and  leading  De  Vries 
to  the  window,  pointed  out  triumphantly  the  sol- 
diers drawn  up  in  review  within  the  fort.  “ Let 
this  work  alone  ! ” cried  De  Vries ; “ you  want  to 
break  the  Indians’  mouths,  but  you  will  also  murder 
our  own  people.”  “ The  order  has  gone  forth,” 
replied  Kieft,  obstinately,  “it  cannot  be  recalled.” 

That  night  De  Vries  sat  by  the  kitchen  fire  in  the 
director’s  house,  sorrowfully  reflecting  on  the  crim- 
inal folly  which  was  plunging  the  colony  into  ruin. 
He  was  alone  in  the  fort ; not  even  a sentinel  had 
been  left  behind.  “ About  midnight,”  he  says, 
“ hearing  loud  shrieks,  I ran  to  the  ramparts  of  the 
fort.  Looking  toward  Pavonia,  I saw  nothing  but 
shooting,  and  heard  nothing  but  the  shrieks  of  In- 
dians murdered  in  their  sleep.”  He  had  returned 
sadly  to  the  kitchen  fire,  when  an  Indian  and  his 


44 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


squaw,  who  had  escaped  from  Pavonia  in  a canoe, 
burst  into  the  room.  “The  Fort  Orange  Indians 
have  fallen  upon  us,”  they  cried ; “ we  have  come 
to  hide  ourselves  in  the  fort.”  “ It  is  no  time  to 
hide  yourselves  in  the  fort,”  replied  the  patroon, 
who  recognized  the  savages  as  neighbours  at  Vries- 
endael ; “ no  Indians  have  done  this  deed.  It  is 
the  work  of  the  Swannekins,  — the  Dutch.”  He 
led  them  to  the  gate  of  the  fort,  and  pointed  to  the 
woods  beyond  as  their  only  place  of  safety. 

The  night  attack  upon  the  unsuspecting  Indians 
resulted  in  a general  massacre  of  the  families  at 
Pavonia  and  at  Corker’s  Hook.  Neither  women 
nor  children  were  spared.  The  next  morning 
the  director  enjoyed  his  momentary  triumph,  and 
greeted  the  “ Roman  achievements  ” of  his  soldiery 
with  hand-shakings  and  gifts  of  money. 

Kieft’s  bad  example  was  soon  followed  by  the 
turbulent  element  of  the  Long  Island  settlers,  who 
wantonly  attacked  the  friendly  tribe  of  Marechka- 
wiecks,  killing  several,  and  stealing  their  corn.  This 
outrage  was  the  more  stupid,  as  the  enmity  of  the 
Long  Island  Indians  left  the  Dutch  surrounded  by 
foes.  Eleven  tribes  now  rose  in  furious  war.  On 
the  Hudson  River,  in  Westchester,  on  Long  Island, 
the  forests  resounded  with  their  cries,  and  every 
outlying  bowery  suffered  attack.  The  farmers,  with 
such  of  their  families  as  survived,  fled  to  Manhattan, 
and  camped  about  the  fort.  The  ships  in  the  harbour 
became  crowded  with  people  anxious  to  return  to 
Holland.  To  keep  the  homeless  and  angr)'  colonists 
from  starving,  Kieft  had  to  take  them  into  the  pay 


SETTLEMENT  OE  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  45 


of  the  Company  as  soldiers.  Even  Vriesendael  did 
not  escape.  The  savages  destroyed  the  out-build- 
ings and  gathered  crops,  while  De  Vries  and  his 
men  awaited  behind  the  loopholes  of  his  house  the 
final  attack.  But  at  this  juncture  the  Indian  whom 
De  Vries  had  befriended  on  the  night  of  the  Pavonia 
massacre  reminded  the  attacking  party  of  the  pa- 
troon’s  constant  friendship ; and  the  savages  de- 
parted, saying  that  they  would  do  the  good  chief  no 
more  harm,  and  would  even  let  the  brewery  stand, 
although  they  “ longed  for  the  copper  kettle  to 
make  barbs  for  their  arrows.” 

Leaving  the  smouldering  ruins  of  his  beloved 
Vriesendael,  De  Vries  went  down  to  Manhattan. 
“ Has  it  not  happened  just  as  I said,”  he  demanded 
of  Kieft,  “ that  you  were  only  helping  to  shed 
Christian  blood?”  The  director  could  make  no 
answer.  He  stammered  out  his  surprise  that  the 
Indians  had  not  come  to  the  fort  to  make  terms. 
“Why  should  they  come  here,”  asked  De  Vries, 
“whom  you  have  so  treated?” 

Kieft  was  now  as  much  alarmed  as  he  had  been 
confident  before,  and  sent  messengers  to  the  Long 
Island  Indians  to  ask  for  peace.  But  the  savages 
would  not  even  parley.  “Are  you  our  friends?” 
they  cried  from  a distance.  “ You  are  only  corn 
thieves  ! ” The  director’s  position  became  daily 
more  uncomfortable.  Manhattan  was  crowded  with 
widows,  with  fatherless  children,  with  farmers,  who 
mourned  the  loss  of  buildings,  crops,  and  relatives. 
It  was  winter,  and  shelter  for  the  homeless  was  hard 
to  find.  Provisions  were  growing  scarce.  Dark 


46 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


looks  and  angry  words  met  Kieft  at  every  turn. 
Within  two  weeks  of  his  vain  boast  that  he  would 
make  the  Indians  “ wipe  their  chops,”  he  could 
find  no  palliation  for  the  calamities  which  he  had 
brought  upon  the  colony  other  than  to  proclaim 
the  fourth  of  March  as  a day  of  fasting  and  prayer. 
“ We  continue  to  suffer,”  the  proclamation  ran, 
“ much  trouble  and  loss  from  the  heathen,  and 
many  of  our  inhabitants  see  their  lives  and  property 
in  jeopardy,  which  is  doubtless  owing  to  our  sins.” 

But  Kieft’s  day  of  fasting  did  not  help  him  much. 
A number  of  burghers  talked  plainly  of  putting  the 
director  on  board  of  a ship  bound  for  Holland  ; oth- 
ers upbraided  him  even  in  the  fort.  To  all  he  had 
but  one  reply  to  make  : the  responsibility  rested 
with  Adriaensen,  Dam,  and  Verplanck,  who,  as 
members  of  the  Twelve,  had  urged  the  midnight 
attack.  But  the  retort  of  the  burghers  was  con- 
clusive : “ You  forbade  those  freemen  to  meet,  on 
pain  of  punishment  for  disobedience ; how  came  it 
then?”  Among  the  most  furious  was  Adriaensen 
himself,  who  had  not  only  signed  the  petition,  but 
had  commanded  the  expedition  which  murdered 
forty  Weckquaesgeeks  at  Corlaer’s  Hook.  Ruined 
by  the  destruction  of  his  own  bowery,  and  stung 
by  the  reproaches  of  his  companions,  he  resented 
Kieft’s  attempt  to  make  him  responsible.  On  the 
morning  of  March  21  he  forced  his  way,  armed, 
into  the  director’s  room,  shouting : “ What  lies  are 
these  you  are  reporting  of  me?  ” He  was  arrested. 
But  a party  of  his  friends  and  servants  came  to  his 
rescue,  and  one  of  them  fired  at  the  director.  The 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  47 

man  was  shot,  and  his  head  set  upon  a pole,  while 
Adriaensen  was  sent  to  Holland. 

In  this  distracted  state  of  the  colony  Kieft  listened 
at  last  to  De  Vries.  The  latter,  accompanied  by 
Jacob  Olfertsen,  sought  out  the  Indians  in  the 
woods,  and  his  influence  brought  about  a peace. 
But  Kieft,  persistently  wrong,  was  niggardly  with  his 
gifts.  The  atonement  was  not  sufficient,  and  De 
Vries  knew  well  that,  although  the  Indians  were  will- 
ing to  observe  a truce  until  their  corn  was  planted, 
the  chiefs  could  not  restrain  their  young  men  from 
finally  seeking  a full  revenge  for  the  dead  whom 
they  mourned.  And  so  it  proved.  In  August,  the 
Tankitekes  of  Haverstraw  and  the  Wappingers  of 
the  Highlands  dug  up  the  hatchet,  killing  fifteen 
Dutchmen  along  the  river,  and  plundering  the  fur- 
laden sloops  coming  down  from  Fort  Orange. 

Kieft  called  the  burghers  together  to  assist  him 
in  this  new  emergency.  By  them  an  advisory 
board  was  chosen  known  as  the  Eight  Men,  consist- 
ing of  Jochem  Pietersen  Kuyter,  Cornelis  Melyn, 
Jan  Jansen  Dam,  Barent  Dircksen,  Abraham  Pieter- 
sen, Gerrit  Wolfertsen,  Isaac  Allerton,  and  Thomas 
Hall.  The  first  two,  Kuyter  and  Melyn,  henceforth 
took  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony  a leading  part, 
which  was  destined  to  make  much  trouble  for  them 
in  Stuyvesant’s  time.  Allerton,  a Mayflower  emi- 
grant, had  come  to  Manhattan  from  Plymouth.  His 
presence  on  the  board  and  that  of  Hall  showed  the 
growing  influence  of  the  English  in  the  colony. 
The  Eight  Men  began  their  proceedings  by  expel- 
ling Dam  on  account  of  his  part  in  bringing  about 


48 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


the  Pavonia  massacre,  and  chose  in  his  place  Jan 
Evertsen  Bout.  The  prosecution  of  hostilities  was 
then  authorized.  The  director  took  into  the  Com- 
pany’s service  fifty  Englishmen,  who  were  about  to 
leave  the  unhappy  colony,  and  placed  at  their  head 
Capt.  John  Underhill,  the  hardy  soldier  whose  ser- 
vices to  New  England  in  the  Pequod  War  had 
not  prevented  his  banishment  thence  for  religious 
differences. 

But,  as  De  Vries  had  pointed  out  before,  the 
colony  was  too  scattered  to  admit  of  defence.  In 
September,  the  Weckquaesgeeks  murdered  Anne 
Hutchinson  and  her  family  at  Annie’s  Hoeck,  in 
Westchester.  Lady  Deborah  Moody’s  settlement 
of  English  people  from  Salem  at  Gravesend,  Long 
Island,  barely  escaped  with  their  lives  by  hard  fight- 
ing. Doughty’s  prosperous  colony  at  Mespath  was 
destroyed.  The  Hackinsacks  burned  Van  der 
Horst’s  buildings  at  Achter  Cul.  The  village  at 
Pavonia  was  burned  in  October,  and  the  garrison 
killed  to  a man,  — although  Stoffelsen,  who  was  in 
charge  and  had  shown  the  Indians  kindness,  was 
sent  away  by  them  on  some  pretext  before  the 
attack.  Van  Voorst’s  little  son  was  made  captive, 
and  De  Vries  had  to  go  into  the  forest  to  obtain 
his  release.  Thus,  from  the  Highlands  to  the 
Housatonic  River,  the  province  of  New  Netherland 
was  desolated.  The  surviving  farmers  camped  with 
their  families  about  the  fort.  Above  the  Kolck  but 
a few  boweries  maintained  armed  possession.  New 
Amsterdam  itself  was  in  danger.  Men  gathering 
firewood  as  far  north  as  Wall  Street  were  constantly 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  49 

fired  at.  Van  Dyck  was  shot  in  the  arm  while  re- 
lieving guard.  Provisions  were  falling  short,  and 
yet  Kieft  allowed  two  vessels  laden  with  grain  to  sail 
for  Cura^oa.  An  application  for  assistance  sent  to 
New  Haven  by  Allerton  and  Underhill  resulted  in 
failure. 

At  this  sad  time  New  Netherland  lost  its  best 
friend.  De  Vries,  the  bold  sea-captain  and  enter- 
prising patroon,  left  the  colony  forever.  His  public 
spirit,  his  rough  wisdom,  his  tact  in  dealing  with  the 
Indians  would  have  given  to  New  Netherland  a 
happy  history  had  he  been  in  the  place  of  the 
director.  His  boweries  were  in  ruins,  and  the 
prospect  of  rebuilding  them  became  daily  more 
remote.  A herring-buss  from  Rotterdam  came 
through  Hell  Gate,  whose  skipper  had  failed  to 
sell  his  cargo  of  Madeira  in  New  England  “ because 
the  English  there  lived  soberly.”  He  wanted  a 
pilot  to  guide  him  to  Virginia,  and  De  Vries  took 
the  opportunity  to  return  to  Holland.  Before  em- 
barking, the  patroon  went  up  to  the  fort.  “The 
murders  in  which  you  have  shed  so  much  innocent 
blood,”  he  said  to  Kieft,  “ will  yet  be  avenged 
upon  your  own  head,”  — a prophecy  before  long 
fulfilled. 

During  the  winter  of  1644  the  Dutch  sent  out 
expeditions  against  the  Indians  in  Westchester  and 
on  the  great  plains  of  Long  Island,  under  Van 
Dyck,  Kuyter,  and  Underhill,  in  which  the  Christian 
showed  himself  to  be  no  less  cruel  than  the  heathen. 
But  Kieft  was  much  straitened  in  his  supply  of  pro- 
visions for  the  people,  and  of  ammunition  for  the 


4 


50 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


soldiery.  A bill  of  exchange  which  he  had  drawn 
on  the  West  India  Company  in  the  previous  autumn 
had  returned  protested.  The  unprofitable  wars 
waged  against  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards  in 
South  America  had  brought  the  Company  to  bank- 
ruptcy. At  this  juncture,  a vessel  arrived  in  port 
with  a cargo  of  supplies  sent  by  the  patroon  to 
his- colony  of  Rensselaerwyck.  The  skipper,  Peter 
Wynkoop,  having  refused  to  sell  shoes  for  the  sol- 
diers at  Manhattan,  Kieft  had  the  ship  searched,  and 
finding  goods  not  included  in  the  manifest  he  con- 
fiscated both  ship  and  cargo.  The  ammunition  and 
clothing  thus  acquired  not  proving  sufficient,  the 
director  levied  a tax  on  beer,  which  excited  great 
opposition  among  the  impoverished  people.  The 
Eight  Men  remonstrated  justly,  on  the  ground  that 
the  Company  had  formally  agreed  to  defray  all  the 
expenses  of  war.  “ I have  more  power  here  than 
the  Company  itself,”  replied  Kieft ; “ therefore  I 
may  do  and  suffer  in  this  country  what  I please.  I 
am  my  own  master,  for  I have  my  commission  not 
from  the  Company,  but  from  the  States-General.” 
Kuyter,  Melyn,  and  Hall  of  the  Eight  who  went  to 
the  fort  to  protest  against  the  tax  were  allowed  to 
kick  their  heels  in  the  director’s  hall  for  four  hours, 
and  to  depart  “ as  wise  as  they  came.”  In  July  a 
Dutch  vessel  called  the  “ Blue-Cock  ” arrived  from 
Cura^oa,  containing  a hundred  and  thirty  soldiers 
sent  by  Peter  Stuyvesant,  the  governor  there.  The 
burghers  hailed  the  arrival  of  these  men  as  a means 
of  terminating  the  Indian  war  duiing  the  summer. 
But  Kieft  quartered  the  soldiers  on  the  Common- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  51 


alty,  and  took  no  warlike  steps.  All  summer, 
“ scarce  a foot  was  moved  on  land  or  an  oar  laid 
in  the  water.” 

The  Eight  Men,  exasperated  by  the  sufferings  of 
the  colony,  now  apparently  interminable,  saw  that 
their  only  hope  of  redress  lay  in  applications  to 
the  States-General  and  the  West  India  Company. 
Kuyter  and  Melyn  were  the  authors  of  a vigorous 
memorial  sent  out  in  the  “ Blue-Cock.”  “ Our 
fields  lie  fallow  and  waste,”  said  the  Eight ; “ our 
dwellings  and  other  buildings  are  burnt.  The  crop 
which  God  the  Lord  permitted  to  come  forth  dur- 
ing the  last  summer  remains  on  the  field,  as  well  as 
the  hay  standing  in  divers  places,  whilst  we  poor 
people  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  a single  man 
for  our  defence.  We  are  burdened  with  heavy 
families ; have  no  means  to  provide  necessaries  any 
longer  for  our  wives  and  children.  We  are  seated 
here  in  the  midst  of  thousands  of  Indians  and  bar- 
barians, from  whom  is  to  be  experienced  neither 
peace  nor  pity.  We  have  left  our  fatherland,  and 
had  not  the  Lord  our  God  been  our  comfort,  must 
have  perished  in  our  wretchedness.  There  are 
men  amongst  us  who  by  the  sweat  and  labour  of  their 
hands  have  been  endeavouring  at  great  expense  to 
improve  their  lands  and  gardens.  . . . All  these  are 
now  laid  in  ashes  through  a foolish  hankering  after 
war ; for  it  is  known  to  all  right-thinking  men  here 
that  these  Indians  have  lived  as  lambs  amongst  us 
until  a few  years  ago,  injuring  no  one,  affording 
every  assistance  to  our  nation.  The  director  hath, 
by  various  uncalled-for  proceedings,  so  estranged 


52 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


them  from  us,  and  so  embittered  them  against  the 
Dutch  nation,  that  we  do  not  think  anything  will 
bring  them  back,  unless  the  Lord  God,  who  bends 
all  men’s  hearts  to  his  will,  propitiates  them.” 

The  memorials  of  the  Eight  Men  were  considered 
by  the  College  of  the  XIX.  at  the  end  of  1644. 
They  were  conclusive  in  their  description  of  the 
misgovernment  of  the  colony,  and  moreover  had  the 
support  of  De  Vries.  The  West  India  Company, 
now  bankrupt,  was  seeking  to  merge  itself  with  the 
successful  East  India  Company.  An  examination 
into  the  affairs  of  New  Netherland  rev'ealed  the  fact 
that  instead  of  the  long  looked-for  profits,  the 
colony  had  cost,  from  1626  to  1644,  over  five  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  guilders  above  the  receipts. 
But  the  College  of  the  XIX.  considering  that  the 
Company  had  promised  to  assist  the  colony,  and 
that  there  might  yet  be  some  hope  for  it,  resolved 
that  the  directors  could  not  “ decently  or  consis- 
tently abandon  it.”  Kieft’s  policy  was  condemned, 
his  acts  repudiated,  and  he  and  his  Council  were 
ordered  to  Holland  to  assume  responsibility  for  the 
“ bloody  exploit  ” at  Pavonia  and  Corker’s  Hook. 
A new  director  was  to  be  sent  out  and  the  admin- 
istration thoroughly  reformed. 

In  the  spring  of  1645  the  Indians,  themselves, 
weary  of  war,  made  proposals  of  peace.  The  nego- 
tiations were  long ; but  on  the  20th  of  August  the 
burghers  assembled  joyfully  at  the  fort,  where  the 
articles  of  the  treaty  were  submitted  to  their  ap- 
proval. None  objected  but  Hendrick  Kip,  who 
opposed  all  the  proposals  of  the  director,  on  princi- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  53 


pie.  The  next  day  was  set  apart  as  a day  of  thanks- 
giving, and  in  all  the  English  and  Dutch  churches 
it  was  ordered  “ to  proclaim  the  good  tidings 
throughout  New  Netherland.”  But  during  the  five 
years  of  war  the  colony  had  been  nearly  depopu- 
lated ; hardly  more  than  three  hundred  freemen 
remained  capable  of  bearing  arms,  and  all  were  im- 
poverished. The  news  of  Kieft’s  repudiation  and 
recall  made  life  at  Manhattan  very  uncomfortable 
for  him.  Surrounded  by  men  who  attributed  to 
him  their  ruin,  he  was  often  threatened  with  per- 
sonal chastisement  when  he  should  “ take  off  the 
coat  with  which  he  was  bedecked  by  the  lords  his 
masters.”  All  this  provoked  Kieft  to  reprisals,  and 
the  fort  was  the  scene  of  constant  turmoil.  Domine 
Bogardus  arraigned  him  from  the  pulpit  as  “ a vessel 
of  wrath  and  a fountain  of  woe  and  trouble ; ” to 
which  Kieft  replied  by  causing  the  garrison  to  beat 
drums  and  discharge  cannon  about  the  church  dur- 
ing the  time  of  the  domine’s  discourse. 

The  colony  at  Rensselaerwyck,  having  kept  on 
good  terms  with  the  surrounding  Mohawks,  had  es- 
caped the  Indian  war,  and  formed  the  most  pros- 
perous portion  of  New  Netherland.  Nature  was 
profuse  in  her  gifts.  The  river  abounded  with  stur- 
geon and  the  brooks  with  trout.  Nuts,  plums, 
blackberries,  and  grapes  were  to  be  had  on  all  sides 
for  the  picking.  The  wild  strawberries  grew  so 
thickly  that  the  children  had  but  to  lie  down  and 
eat.  Deer,  turkeys,  partridges,  and  pigeons  were 
abundant.  The  lazy  burgher  could  get  a fat  buck 
from  an  Indian  in  exchange  for  a pipe.  Arendt 


54 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


van  Curler,  the  agent  for  the  patroon,  received  the 
emigrants,  allotted  them  land,  and  administered  a 
rude  justice.  In  1642,  Domine  Johannes  Mega- 
polensis  was  sent  out  by  the  Classis  of  Alckmaar, 
and  he  preached  to  both  Dutch  and  Indian.  The 
fur-trade  was  a steady  source  of  income,  although 
the  independent  traders  who  came  up  the  river 
curtailed  seriously  the  patroon’s  profits.  To  remedy 
this  abuse.  Van  Rensselaer  ordered  Van  Curler  to 
stop  illicit  trading,  and  to  preserve  his  exclusive 
rights  as  the  “ first  and  oldest  ” patroon  on  the 
North  River.  For  this  purpose,  in  1644,  Van 
Curler  erected  a fort  on  Beeren  Island  command- 
ing both  channels  of  the  river,  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  Rensselaerstein.  The  Dutch  claim  of 
“ staple  right  ” was  set  up,  a toll  of  five  guilders  was 
levied  on  passing  vessels,  and  all  were  ordered  to 
strike  their  colors  to  the  fort  in  homage  to  the 
patroon  in  whose  territory  they  were.  Nicholas 
Room  was  appointed  “ wacht-meester  ” to  enforce 
these  rules.  In  July,  Covert  Loockermans,  a leading 
burgher  of  New  Amsterdam,  was  sailing  down  the 
river  in  his  sloop,  the  “ Good  Hope,”  laden  with 
furs  collected  in  the  country  above.  As  the  “ Good 
Hope  ” floated  lazily  past  the  fort,  her  crew  were 
surprised  to  hear  a cannon  discharged  thence,  and 
the  voice  of  Koorn  from  the  ramparts,  shouting,  — 

“ Strike  thy  colours  ! ” 

Loockermans  was  at  the  helm.  “For  whom  shall 
I strike?”  he  inquired. 

“ For  the  staple  right  of  Rensselaerstein,”  shouted 
Koorn,  grandly. 


SETTLEMENT  OF  MANHATTAN  /SLANT).  55 

**■  I strike  for  nobody,”  retorted  Loockermans, 
“ but  the  Prince  of  Orange,  or  those  by  whom  I am 
employed.” 

The  sloop  passing  defiantly  on,  three  shots  were 
fired  from  the  fort,  one  of  which  passed  through 
Loockerman’s  “princely  flag,”  just  above  his  head. 
Thus  began  a long  struggle  between  the  authorities 
of  New  Netherland  and  of  Rensselaerwyck.  Nich- 
olas Koorn  was  immediately  summoned  before  the 
Council  at  Manhattan,  and  a lively  dispute  took 
place  between  him  and  Van  der  Huygens,  the 
schout-fiscal.  The  latter  protested  against  the 
patroon’s  attempt  to  control  the  Hudson  River, 
while  Koorn  maintained  the  right  of  the  patroon, 
derived  from  the  States-General,  to  fortify  and  pro- 
tect his  colony.  And  there  the  contention  rested 
until  Stuyvesant’s  time. 

The  other  Dutch  possessions  in  America  were 
faring  badly.  The  South  or  Delaware  River  had 
been  explored  by  Hendricksen  in  1616,  and  in  1623 
a beginning  was  made  by  the  erection  of  Fort 
Nassau,  on  the  Jersey  shore,  about  four  miles  below 
Philadelphia.  In  1631,  the  patroon  Godyn  and  his 
partners  established  the  colony  of  Swaanendael  on 
the  Delaware  side.  But  in  1638  Peter  Minuit,  the 
former  director  of  Manhattan,  brought  a party  of 
Swedes  into  the  river,'  who  built  Fort  Christina, 
disregarded  Kieft’s  remonstrances,  and  by  superior 
enterprise  soon  made  themselves  masters  in  that 
country. 

The  Dutch  were  still  less  successful  in  opposing 
the  encroachments  on  their  eastern  boundaries  by 


56 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


the  English.  Western  Connecticut  belonged  by  dis- 
covery and  by  the  erection  of  Fort  Good  Hope  to 
New  Netherland.  But  the  New  England  people 
moved  steadily  westward,  taking  up  good  lands 
wherever  they  found  them,  replying  to  Dutch  re- 
monstrances that  the  soil  was  too  rich  to  be  left 
idle.  They  settled  all  around  the  Fort  Good  Hope, 
making  that  Dutch  stronghold  the  favourite  subject 
of  their  jokes.  The  turnips  planted  by  Op  Dyck 
and  his  men  were  cooked  in  New  England  kettles, 
and  the  soldier  who  objected  got  a buffeting  for  his 
pains.  The  English  ploughman  ran  his  furrows 
close  to  the  walls  of  the  fort,  and  complained  of  the 
obstruction.  The  garrison  that  nominally  held  Con- 
necticut for  the  West  India  Company  found  them- 
selves living  in  an  English  community,  with  the  town 
of  Hartford  growing  up  before  them.  The  Dutch 
claim  was  undoubtedly  good,  but  there  was  no  force 
to  prevent  the  all-absorbing  English  immigration. 
The  New  England  people  were  already  at  Stamford, 
and  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island  was  within  their 
grasp.  In  1640,  the  Lynn  emigrants  at  Cow  Bay 
pulled  down  the  arms  of  Holland  and  left  in  their 
place  “an  unhandsome  face.” 


ms  ADMINISTRATION. 


57 


CHAPTER  11. 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

The  neglect  shown  by  the  West  India  Company 
towards  its  colony  of  New  Netherland  had  been 
unavoidable.  The  conquests  in  Brazil  and  other 
portions  of  South  America  had  proved  so  costly 
and  unremunerative,  the  number  and  the  value  of 
Spanish  prizes  had  so  far  diminished,  that  the  ces- 
sation of  dividends  was  followed  speedily  by  bank- 
ruptcy. The  competition  of  private  traders  had 
curtailed  the  profits  of  the  fur-trade,  and  New  Ne- 
therland, showing  a balance  on  the  wrong  side  of 
the  ledger,  was  not  an  interesting  subject  to  the 
Company.  Indeed,  the  College  of  the  XIX.,  sorely 
pressed  by  greater  troubles,  had  nearly  forgotten  its 
North  American  possessions,  until  the  information 
of  the  Indian  wars  and  the  aggressions  of  the  Eng- 
lish made  it  evident  that  a total  loss  would  result 
from  further  neglect.  There  were  compunctions  of 
conscience,  too,  — several  of  the  directors  declaring 
that  the  Company,  after  the  promises  it  had  made, 
was  bound  to  give  assistance  to  the  settlers.  A 
strong  man  must  be  sent  out  who  would  repair  the 
errors  of  Kieft,  subdue  the  Indians,  and  resist  the 
encroachments  of  the  English.  The  choice  fell  on 
Peter  Stuyvesant. 


58 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


The  word  “ Stuyvesant  ” signifies  “shifting  sands,” 
a condition  characteristic  of  parts  of  the  coast  of 
Holland.  Peter  was  the  son  of  Balthazar  Stuy- 
vesant, a clergyman  of  the  Reformed  religion. 
Previous  to  1619,  Balthazar  was  settled  at  Scherpen- 
zeel,  in  southern  Friesland.  In  1622  he  removed 
with  his  family  to  Berlicum,  in  the  same  province. 
Thence,  in  1634,  he  went  to  Delfzil,  in  Guelderland, 
where  he  died  in  1637.  At  Berlicum,  on  May  2, 
1625,  he  lost  his  wife,  Margaretta  Hardenstein,  who 
left  two  children,  — Peter,  and  a daughter  Annake. 
On  July  22,  1627,  he  married  Styntie  Pieters,  of 
Haarlem,  by  whom  he  had  three  more  children,  — 
Margaretta,  Tryncke,  and  Balthazar. 

Peter  had  his  own  way  to  make ; and  his  vigour- 
ous  and  impetuous  character  had  led  him  into  the 
adventurous  rather  than  the  peaceful  paths  of  Dutch 
commercial  life.  His  record  was  well  known  to  the 
directors  of  the  West  India  Company,  in  whose 
service  he  had  fought  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese 
in  South  America,  and  had  been  for  some  years 
governor  of  the  island  of  Curagoa.  During  his 
command  there,  he  had  made  a naval  attack  upon 
the  island  of  St.  Thomas,  his  conduct  of  which  was 
ever  afterward  a subject  of  contention  between 
his  friends  and  enemies.  The  former  always  spoke 
of  it  as  an  instance  of  his  “Roman  courage,” 
sufficiently  proved  by  the  wooden  leg  worn  in  con- 
sequence of  it ; while  the  latter  declared  that  the 
undertaking  was  foolhardy  in  the  beginning,  and 
carried  out  with  such  vain  bluster  that  the  store 
of  powder  in  the  attacking  fleet  had  been  exhausted 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


59 


in  a threatening  cannonade  before  the  ships  got 
within  gunshot  of  the  enemy.  It  is  certain  that  the 
attack  was  unsuccessful,  and  that  Stuyvesant’s  leg 
was  so  badly  injured  that  he  was  obliged  to  return 
to  Holland,  where  it  was  amputated.  He  was  now 
walking  about  on  a wooden  leg  bound  with  silver 
bands,  and  had  married,  at  Amsterdam,  Judith, 
the  daughter  of  Balthazar  Bayard,  a French  pro- 
testant  who  had  fled  to  Holland  from  persecution. 
The  directors  of  the  West  India  Company  took  the 
“ Roman-courage  ” view  of  the  St.  Thomas  inci- 
dent, and  decided  to  confide  to  Peter  Stuyvesant 
the  execution  of  their  plans  for  the  regeneration 
of  New  Netherland. 

The  expedition  was  liberally  fitted  out.  There 
were  four  vessels,  — the  “Great  Gerrit,”  the  “ Prin- 
cess,” the  “ Zwol,”  and  the  “ Raet.”  A new 
Council  to  assist  the  director  was  sent  with  him, 
consisting  of  Hon.  Lubbertus  Van  Dincklage,  vice- 
director of  New  Netherland  and  first  councillor 
of  New  Amsterdam  ; Hendrick  van  Dyck,  schout- 
fiscal ; Capt.  Bryan  Newton,  an  Englishman  who 
had  served  under  Stuyvesant  at  Curagoa;  Adriaen 
Keyser,  the  commissary;  and  Jesmer  Thomas,  a 
captain  in  the  Dutch  navy.  Besides  these,  there 
were  soldiers  and  servants,  and  a number  of  traders 
and  adventurers.  Stuyvesant  took  his  wife  with 
him,  and  also  his  sister  Annake  (the  widow  of 
Nicholas  Bayard),  with  her  three  sons,  — Balthazar, 
Peter,  and  Nicholas.  The  fleet  sailed  from  the 
Texel  on  Christmas,  1646. 

In  such  an  enterprise  it  was  necessary  that  full 


6o 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


authority  should  be  vested  in  the  commander ; but 
Stuyvesant  soon  showed  that  to  his  rightful  predom- 
inance he  added  an  overbearing  spirit.  For  reasons 
known  only  to  himself,  he  determined  to  proceed  to 
Manhattan  Island  by  way  of  Curagoa.  The  remon- 
strances of  Van  Dyck  and  others  of  the  Council, 
who  were  exhausted  by  the  tedium  of  the  voyage 
and  the  unhealthfulness  of  a tropical  climate,  met 
with  stern  denial.  At  St.  Christopher’s'  the  fleet 
fell  in  with  a vessel  called  the  “ Love,”  wLose 
papers  not  being  satisfactory  to  Stuyvesant,  was 
made  a prize  of.  While  the  director  was  sitting 
in  his  cabin  arranging  for  the  disposal  of  the  prize, 
the  schout-fiscal  — Van  Dyck  — attempted  to  take 
part  in  the  business.  “ Get  out  ! ” roared  Stujwe- 
sant.  “ Who  admitted  you  into  the  Council  ? When 
I want  you.  I’ll  call  you.”  At  Curapoa,  poor  Van 
Dyck  tried  to  enter  the  council-room  again  vdth 
no  better  success ; and,  to  teach  him  who  was  mas- 
ter, Stuyvesant  never  allowed  him  even  a “stroll 
ashore  ” during  the  three  weeks  that  the  fleet  lay 
under  the  tropical  sun  in  the  harbour  of  Curagoa. 
By  the  time  the  long  voyage  was  over,  there  had 
ceased  to  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  extent  of  the 
director’s  authority. 

It  was  the  27th  of  May,  1647,  before  the  fleet  cast 
anchor  off  the  fort  of  New  Amsterdam.  Great  was 
the  joy  on  board  at  the  view  of  these  beautiful 
shores,  and  great  was  the  satisfaction  in  the  little 
settlement  at  the  prospect  of  a new  governor  and 
new  friends.  At  the  fort  all  the  ammunition  that 
remained  was  consumed  in  firing  salutes,  while  along 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


6l 


the  bank  of  the  East  River  gathered  the  inhabitants 
with  their  vrows  and  children,  ready  with  a hearty 
welcome.  Kieft  was  there,  his  feelings  divided  be- 
tween satisfaction  at  relief  from  his  burdensome 
position  and  fears  as  to  his  treatment  by  the  new 
authorities ; Melyn  and  Kuyter,  burning  for  an  op- 
portunity to  let  the  new  director  know  what  they 
thought  of  the  old  one  ; Van  Tienhoven,  anxious 
for  his  office  of  colonial  secretary ; and  the  other 
burghers,  ready  to  forget  the  past  in  pleasant 
anticipations. 

On  landing,  Stuyvesant  proceeded  to  the  fort, 
whither  he  was  followed  by  the  principal  burghers. 
His  bearing,  as  reported  by  unfriendly  critics,  was 
“like  a peacock’s,  with  great  state  and  pomp,”  and 
he  kept  the  burghers  “ for  several  hours  bare- 
headed,” while  he  was  covered  “ as  if  he  were  the 
Czar  of  Muscovy.”  Standing  within  the  fort,  he 
formally  assumed  authority.  Then  the  wily  Kieft, 
thinking  to  profit  by  the  general  good  humour, 
made  a farewell  speech,  in  which  he  thanked  the 
Commonalty  profusely  for  their  fidelity  to  him.  He 
hoped  that  fair  words  would  bring  a responsive 
compliment,  under  which  he  might  retire  without  an 
exposure  of  the  hatred  in  which  he  had  long  been 
held.  But  his  voice  only  excited  still  more  the  feel- 
ings which  he  sought  to  calm.  Kuyter,  Melyn,  and 
others  of  the  Eight  Men  answered  angrily  that  they 
had  no  thanks  for  him.  A stormy  scene  was  im- 
minent. Stuyvesant  cut  it  short  by  announcing  that 
he  would  do  justice  to  all,  and  would  govern  them 
as  a father  his  children.  But  there  was  something 


62 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


in  the  director’s  manner  which  “ caused  some  to 
think  that  he  would  not  be  a father.” 

Stuyvesant’s  first  work  was  to  organize  the  ma- 
chinery of  government.  To  the  members  of  his 
Council,  who  had  come  out  with  him,  he  added 
Dr.  La  Montague,  who  had  served  for  many  years 
in  a similar  capacity,  and  Van  Tienhoven,  who  con- 
tinued in  his  old  office  of  provincial  secretary. 
Baxter,  who  had  been  appointed  English  secretary 
by  Kieft,  remained  undisturbed,  as  he  was  the  only 
man  at  Manhattan  who  could  “ tolerably  read  or 
write  the  English  language.”  Paulus  Leendertsen 
van  der  Grist  was  made  “ equipage  master.”  A 
court  of  justice  was  formed,  with  Van  Dincklage  as 
judge,  although  Stuyvesant  reserved  the  right  to 
preside  when  he  desired. 

AVhen  the  new  director  surveyed  the  capital  of 
his  dominions,  he  found  that  a great  task  lay  before 
him.  The  long  Indian  wars,  the  consequent  pov- 
erty, the  incessant  quarrels  between  Kieft  and  the 
burghers  had  left  everything  at  loose  ends.  The 
town  was  confined  between  the  site  of  Wall  Street 
and  the  water  fronts,  and  it  was  thickly  settled  only 
in  the  small  space  between  the  fort  and  the  canal,  or 
arm  of  the  East  River,  which  extended  up  the  pres- 
ent Broad  Street  as  far  as  Exchange  Place.  The 
streets  were  hardly  named  as  yet,  and  were  no  more 
than  broad  paths,  alternately  muddy  or  dusty,  ex- 
tending from  the  fort  to  the  canal.  The  houses 
were  rudely  constructed  of  wood,  with  roofs  generally 
thatched,  and  with  wooden  chimneys.  Pig-pens 
and  out-houses  were  set  directly  on  the  street,  dif- 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


63 


fusing  unpleasant  odours.  The  hogs  ran  at  will,  kept 
out  of  the  vegetable  gardens  only  by  rough  stockades. 
Stuyvesant  insisted  on  the  removal  of  nuisances  from 
the  streets,  ordered  the  proprietors  of  vacant  lots  to 
improve  them  within  nine  months,  and  appointed 
Van  Dincklage,  Van  Tienhoven,  and  Van  der  Grist 
“ surveyors  of  buildings  ” to  see  that  his  reforms 
were  carried  out.  The  morals  of  the  people  were 
regulated  by  proclamations,  which  called  for  a 
thorough  reformation.”  Drunkenness,  Sabbath- 
breaking,  and  brawling  must  cease.  The  selling  of 
liquor  to  the  Indians  was  prohibited.  The  church  was 
still  unfinished ; the  walls  of  the  fort  trodden  down 
by  cattle,  and  an  embankment  was  sorely  needed 
along  the  water-front,  against  the  encroachments  of 
the  tide.  These  works  required  money,  and  turned 
the  director’s  attention  to  the  revenue.  He  found 
that  the  West  India  Company  was  being  defrauded 
of  its  due  by  the  selling  of  furs  to  Virginia  and  New 
England.  This  unlawful  business  was  summarily 
stopped.  A “ hand-board  ” was  erected  on  the 
shore  of  the  East  River,  at  the  foot  of  the  pres- 
ent Whitehall  Street,  where  all  vessels  were  com- 
pelled to  anchor,  and  where  they  could  be  properly 
supervised.  A method  of  raising  money,  charac- 
teristic of  Dutchmen  and  more  attractive  than  port 
duties,  was  immediately  adopted.  Two  vessels, 
the  “ Cat  ” and  the  “ Love,”  were  despatched 
to  the  West  Indies  in  search  of  Spanish  prizes. 

Stuyvesant  had  hardly  started  on  this  preliminary 
work,  when  a contest  arose  which  greatly  disturbed 
the  peace  of  the  colony,  and  formed  the  beginning 


64 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


of  a long  series  of  dissensions  between  the  director 
and  his  people.  The  majority  of  the  burghers  had 
been  satisfied  with  the  dismissal  of  Kieft  from  the 
directorship,  and  were  bent  only  on  making  the 
most  of  the  new  conditions.  But  Kuyter  and  Melyn, 
who  were  partners  in  a patroonship,  men  of  means 
and  education  much  superior  to  Kieft,  were  not  in- 
clined to  let  him  off  so  easily.  Their  losses  through 
his  misgovernment  had  been  ruinous,  and  the  long 
enmity  rankled  unsatisfied.  Now  they  presented  to 
the  director  and  Council  formal  accusations  against 
Kieft,  with  a petition  that  the  leading  citizens  should 
be  examined  with  a view  to  laying  bare  his  whole 
conduct,  from  the  imposition  of  the  Indian  tribute  in 
1639.  Had  the  patroons  known  more  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  new  director  they  would  not  have  ven- 
tured so  far.  If  there  was  one  opinion  unalterably 
fixed  in  the  mind  of  Stuyvesant,  it  was  that  to  the 
powers  that  be  is  due  a blind  obedience.  Right 
or  wrong,  there  should  be  no  resistance  to  a consti- 
tuted authority.  Although  political  liberty  was  the 
birthright  of  the  Dutch,  their  colonies,  generally 
military  in  character,  had  to  be  arbitrarily  governed. 
Stuyvesant  was  accustomed  to  a rigid  discipline,  and 
he  knew  how  to  govern  only  as  a master. 

When  the  petition  of  Kuyter  and  Melyn  was  re- 
ceived, the  director  at  once  took  alarm.  If  the 
administration  of  Kieft  were  thus  to  be  put  in  judg- 
ment on  the  demand  of  private  persons,  his  omi 
conduct  would  be  subject  to  the  same  examination. 
The  precedent  was  dangerous.  He  “ chose  the  side 
of  Kieft ; ” declined  to  recognize  Kuyter  and  Melyn 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


65 


in  their  official  capacity  as  members  of  the  Eight 
Men,  and  refused  to  consider  such  a petition  from 
private  individuals.  “ If  this  point  be  conceded,” 
he  said  at  the  Council  Board,  “ will  not  these  cun- 
ning fellows,  in  order  to  usurp  over  us  a more  un- 
limited power,  claim  and  assume  in  consequence 
even  greater  authority  against  ourselves  and  our 
commission,  should  it  happen  that  our  administra- 
tion may  not  square  in  every  respect  with  their 
whims?  ” He  ended  by  saying,  and  no  doubt  it 
was  his  earnest  belief : “ It  is  treason  to  petition 
against  one’s  magistrates,  whether  there  be  cause  or 
not.”  The  Council  agreed  with  him,  and  the  pe- 
tition of  the  “ malignant  subjects  ” was  rejected. 

The  guilty  Kieft  had  been  much  alarmed  at 
the  possible  issue.  Now,  seeing  his  advantage,  he 
boldly  became  complainant,  and  accused  Kuyter 
and  Melyn  of  being  the  authors  of  the  Memorial 
to  the  Congress  of  the  XIX.  in  1644,  which,  he 
claimed,  contained  false  statements  calculated  to 
bring  the  magistrates  into  contempt.  Stuyvesant 
had  worked  himself  into  a passion  by  this  time,  and 
made  up  his  mind  to  punish  Kuyter  and  Melyn  as 
an  example.  He  ordered  them  to  appear  to  an- 
swer within  forty-eight  hours.  Kieft’s  complaint 
being  no  more  than  the  accusation  that  the  pat- 
roons  had  told  the  truth  about  himself,  other 
charges  were  trumped  up.  Both  were  convicted  : 
Melyn  was  sentenced  to  seven  years’  banishment 
and  a fine  of  three  hundred  guilders ; Kuyter,  to 
half  of  the  same  penalty.  The  sentences  were  un- 
just and  very  unpopular.  But  Stuyvesant  was  re* 
S 


66 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


solved  that  there  should  be  no  question  in  the  col- 
ony as  to  the  extent  of  the  director’s  authority. 

Melyn  declared  his  intention  to  appeal  to  the 
directors  in  Holland,  which  increased  Stuyvesant’s 
anger  to  fury.  “ If  I was  persuaded,”  he  said  to 
Melyn,  “ that  you  would  appeal  from  my  senten- 
ces, or  divulge  them,  I would  have  your  head  cut  off, 
or  have  you  hanged  on  the  highest  tree  in  New 
Netherland.”  Nothing  excited  him  so  much  as  the 
contempt  of  his  authority  involved  in  a threatened 
appeal  to  Holland.  When  any  one  mentioned  the 
subject,  he  became  so  angry  that  “the  foam  hung 
on  his  beard.”  He  said  to  Van  Hardenberg,  as 
the  two  were  leaving  the  parsonage  house  after 
a meeting  of  the  consistory  : “ If  any  one  during 
my  administration  shall  appeal,  I will  make  him  a 
foot  shorter,  and  send  the  pieces  to  Holland,  and 
let  him  appeal  in  that  way.”  His  whole  conduct  of 
this  affair  was  in  accordance  with  a remark  attributed 
to  him  in  the  “Representation  from  New  Nether- 
land”: “These  brutes  may  hereafter  tr}^  to  knock 
me  down  also,  but  I will  manage  it  so  now  that 
they  will  have  their  bellies  full  for  the  future.” 

The  ship  “ Princess  ” lay  at  anchor  in  the  East 
River  ready  to  sail  for  Holland.  Domine  Bogardus 
and  Kieft  embarked  to  return  home,  and  the  un- 
fortunate patroons  were  sent  aboard  as  prisoners. 
Off  the  coast  of  England  the  “ Princess  ” struck 
upon  a rock  in  the  night,  and  began  to  go  to  pieces. 
“ And  now,”  says  the  Breeden  Raedt,  “ this  wicked 
Kieft,  seeing  death  before  his  eyes,  sighed  deeply, 
and,  turning  to  these  two,  said : ‘ Friends,  I have 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


67 


been  unjust  towards  you;  can  you  forgive  me?’” 
His  repentance  came  too  late ; he  perished  in  the 
fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  of  De  Vries,  that  his  sins 
would  be  visited  upon  his  own  head.  The  Domine 
Bogardus  and  nearly  all  the  ship’s  company  were 
lost.  “ Jochem  Pietersen  Kuyter  remained  alone 
on  a part  of  the  ship  on  which  stood  a cannon, 
which  he  took  for  a man ; but  speaking  to  it  and 
getting  no  answer,  he  supposed  him  dead.  He  was 
at  last  thrown  on  land,  together  with  the  cannon,  to 
the  great  astonishment  of  the  English,  who  crowded 
the  strand  by  thousands,  and  set  up  the  ordnance 
as  a lasting  memorial.  Melyn,  floating  on  his  back, 
fell  in  with  others  who  had  remained  on  a part  of 
the  wreck,  till  they  were  driven  on  a sand- bank, 
which  became  dry  with  the  ebb.”  Then  they  got 
ashore.  As  Kuyter  and  Melyn  “ were  more  con- 
cerned for  their  papers  than  for  anything  else,  they 
caused  them  to  be  dragged  for,  and  on  the  third  day 
Jochem  Pietersen  got  a small  part  of  them.  . . . 
When  they  arrived  in  Holland,  the  Dutch  directors 
much  lamented  the  loss  of  the  ship  and  its  rich 
cargo,  and  were  doubly  pained  that,  while  so  many 
fine  men  were  lost,  two  rebellious  bandits  should 
survive  to  trouble  the  Company  with  their  com- 
plaints.” But  the  patroons  had  justice  on  their  side, 
and  they  succeeded  finally  in  changing  this  hostile 
opinion. 

After  the  departure  of  the  “ Princess,”  Stuyvesant 
threw  himself  vigorously  into  the  work  of  improve- 
ment. A devout  professor  of  the  Reformed  religion, 
he  had  joined  the  consistory  of  the  church  at  New 


68 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


Amsterdam,  and  now  took  measures  to  have  the 
building  finished.  The  place  of  Domine  Bogardus 
was  taken  by  Domine  Backerus,  who  had  come  out 
with  the  director.  Work  on  the  fort  and  the 
streets  proceeded  ; but  in  everything  the  director 
was  hampered  by  lack  of  means.  The  “ Love  ” 
and  the  “Cat”  were  still  looking  for  a prize,  and 
the  port  duties  came  in  slowly.  In  this  difficulty, 
Stuyvesant  proclaimed  a tax  on  wines  and  beers. 
Immediately  there  was  great  opposition  from  the 
burghers.  They  conceded  to  the  Company  its  right 
of  government,  but  insisted  that  it  must  pay  its  own 
expenses.  “ No  taxation  without  representation  ” 
was  a principle  perfectly  understood  by  the  Dutch. 
Stuyvesant  tried  in  vain  to  carry  his  point.  At  last, 
to  allay  the  discontent,  he  was  obliged  to  make 
concessions  which  admitted  the  people  to  a share 
in  the  government.  In  September,  1647,  a Board 
of  Nine  Men  was  established,  to  be  presided  over 
by  the  director.  They  were  to  advise,  not  to  legis- 
late. Three  members  were  to  sit  in  rotation  to  hear 
civil  suits,  the  litigants  to  have  the  right  of  appeal 
to  the  Council.  Six  were  to  retire  annually,  and 
their  places  to  be  taken  by  six  others,  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  director  from  a list  of  twelve  of  the 
“ most  notable  citizens  ” named  by  the  Commonalty. 
Thus,  the  Board  of  Nine  Men  was  to  be  largely  the 
director’s  choice  ; and  as  it  was  to  continue  “ until 
lawfully  repealed,”  he  could  dispense  with  it  if  he 
chose.  Still,  the  concession  was  a great  step  toward 
the  representation  of  the  people  in  public  affairs, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  better  things  to  come. 


ms  ADMINISTRATION'. 


69 


The  first  Board  was  made  up  of  excellent  men. 
From  the  merchants  were  chosen  Augustine  Heer- 
mans,  Arnoldus  van  Hardenberg,  Govert  Loocker- 
mans ; from  the  citizens,  Jan  Jansen  Dam,  Jacob 
Wolfertsen  (Van  Couwenhoven),  Hendrick  Kip; 
from  the  farmers,  Machyel  Janssen,  Jan  Evertsen 
Bout,  Thomas  Hall.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Board  Stuyvesant  was  ill  with  an  influenza  which 
prevailed  throughout  New  Netherland  and  New 
England ; but  he  sent  a summary  of  the  subjects  to 
be  considered,  among  which  the  principal  were  re- 
pairs to  the  fort,  the  completion  of  the  church,  the 
building  of  a schoolhouse,  and  the  maintenance  of 
a school-teacher.  The  Nine  Men  showed  them- 
selves worthy  of  their  responsibility.  The  means 
for  all  these  objects  were  provided  for  by  internal 
taxation,  except  the  work  on  the  fort.  The  Board 
contended,  and  maintained  successfully,  that  the 
West  India  Company’s  charter  of  1629  bound  the 
Company  to  bear  all  the  expense  of  the  military 
establishment.  For  that  purpose  the  director  must 
depend  upon  the  port  and  mill  duties. 

Domestic  affairs  had  hardly  been  got  in  running 
order  when  Stuyvesant’s  attention  was  drawn  to  the 
aggressions  of  New  England.  All  the  country  lying 
between  the  Connecticut  and  Hudson  rivers  was 
claimed  by  the  Dutch  by  right  of  first  occupation. 
We  have  already  seen  how  ineffective  a barrier  had 
been  Fort  Good  Hope  and  its  small  garrison  to  the 
steady  westward  progress  of  the  English.  These 
extensive  and  fertile  lands  were  valuable  to  the 
Dutch  as  a rich  field  of  the  fur- gathering  industry ; 


70 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


but  they  had  never  attempted  to  fill  it  with  boweries. 
The  restless  New  England  people,  continually  mov- 
ing in  search  of  better  land,  scorned  the  Dutch 
claim.  “The  land,”  they  said,  “was  too  good  to 
stand  idle.”  It  rapidly  became  covered  with  their 
farms  and  villages.  New  Haven  and  Hartford  grew 
apace.  The  Dutch  had  no  power  to  keep  back  the 
English  tide,  and  their  numbers  were  not  sufficient  to 
send  settlers  to  anticipate  the  intruders.  The  Eng- 
lish policy,  openly  avowed,  was  “ to  keep  crowding 
the  Dutch.”  Stuyvesant,  alarmed  at  the  prospect, 
opened  communication  with  New  England,  and 
sought  an  interview  with  Winthrop ; but  New  Eng- 
land preferred  to  put  off  discussion,  while  the 
“ crowding  out  ” went  on.  Winthrop  agreed  to 
meet  Stuyvesant  when  his  health  permitted,  — a 
time  which  seemed  never  to  come.  The  Dutch 
director  made  a formal  proposition  that  the  bound- 
aries of  New  Netherland  should  be  recognized  as 
the  Connecticut  and  Delaware  rivers.  Winthrop 
evaded  an  answer,  and  made  complaints  of  the  sell- 
ing of  arms  to  the  Indians  by  the  Dutch,  and  of  the 
restrictions  on  trade  at  the  port  of  New  Amsterdam. 
Already  in  Kieft’s  time  a party  of  Englishmen  had 
laid  claim  to  Long  Island  as  belonging  to  the  Earl 
of  Stirling.  In  the  autumn  of  1647,  ^ named 
Forester  appeared,  and  attempted  to  take  posses- 
sion as  the  agent  of  Lord  Stirling’s  widow.  This 
was  pushing  matters  too  far.  Stuyvesant  captured 
him,  kept  him  in  close  confinement  at  New  Amster- 
dam, and  sent  him  off  in  the  first  ship  that  sailed 
for  Holland. 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


71 


The  flourishing  colony  of  New  Haven,  under 
Governor  Eaton,  was  within  the  nominal  bound- 
aries of  New  Netherland.  Stuyvesant  heard  that  a 
Dutch  ship,  named  the  “ Saint  Benino,”  was  taking 
in  a cargo  there  without  paying  dues  or  obtaining 
permission  from  the  authorities  of  New  Amsterdam. 
In  the  director’s  opinion,  this  was  a flagrant  defi- 
ance of  the  West  India  Company’s  rights.  He 
pronounced  the  ship  a smuggler,  and  devised  a 
skilful  plan  to  capture  her.  The  “ Zwol,”  a Dutch 
vessel,  had  been  purchased  by  the  deputy  gover- 
nor of  New  Haven,  and  delivery  was  to  be  at  that 
place.  Stuyvesant  sent  the  vessel  off  with  a party 
of  armed  men  on  board,  under  Captain  Van  der 
Grist.  The  “ Zwol  ” sailed  into  the  harbour  at 
New  Haven  “on  the  Lord’s  Day,”  ran  alongside  the 
“ Saint  Benino,”  captured  her  and  her  crew ; and 
Captain  Van  der  Grist,  leaving  his  own  vessel  to  her 
new  owner,  sailed  away  on  the  “ Saint  Benino  ” 
before  the  English  knew  what  was  going  on.  Gov- 
ernor Eaton  was  naturally  very  angry.  “ We  have 
protested,”  he  wrote,  “and  by  these  presents  do 
protest  against  you  Peter  Stuyvesant,  Governor  of 
the  Dutch  at  Manhattans,  for  disturbing  the  peace 
between  the  Dutch  and  the  English  in  these  parts, 
. . . by  making  unjust  claims  to  our  lands  and 
plantations,  to  our  havens  and  rivers,  and  by  taking 
a ship  out  of  our  harbour  without  our  permission 
by  your  agents  and  commission  ; and  we  hereby 
profess  that  whatever  inconvenience  may  hereafter 
grow,  you  are  the  cause  and  author  of  it,  as  we 
hope  to  show  and  prove  before  our  superiors  in 


72 


PETER  STUYVESANT 


Europe.”  Stuyvesant  replied  that  the  ship  was 
legally  confiscated  within  the  boundaries  of  New 
Netherland.  But  he  was  careful  to  conduct  his 
correspondence  in  Dutch,  which  Eaton  could  not 
understand. 

Three  servants  of  the  West  India  Company  ran 
away  soon  after,  and  took  refuge  at  New  Haven. 
Stuyvesant  wrote  to  Eaton,  to  request  their  sur- 
render ; but  in  his  characteristic  way  he  addressed 
the  letter  to  New  Haven  in  New  Netherland.  This 
angered  Eaton  still  more,  and  he  refused  to  give  up 
the  men.  The  harbouring  of  each  other’s  fugitives 
was  for  all  the  colonies  a dangerous  practice,  and 
Winthrop  much  regretted  the  action  of  Eaton.  But 
Stuyvesant,  instead  of  leaving  his  adversar}'  in  the 
wrong,  put  himself  there  by  proclaiming  that  “ if 
any  person,  noble  or  ignoble,  freeman  or  slave, 
debtor  or  creditor,  yea,  to  the  lowest  prisoner  in- 
cluded, run  away  from  the  colony  of  New  Haven,  or 
seek  refuge  in  our  limits,  he  shall  remain  free  un- 
der our  protection  on  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance.” 
This  policy  was  so  unpopular  at  home  as  well  as 
hostile  to  the  other  colonies  that  Stuyvesant  found 
himself  obliged  to  inform  Massachusetts  and  Vir- 
ginia that  the  rule  did  not  apply  to  them.  By  as- 
surances of  immunity,  privately  conveyed  to  the 
deserters  at  New  Haven,  he  induced  them  to  return, 
and  was  then  able  to  revoke  his  proclamation  with 
some  show  of  dignity.  Thus  the  conflict  went  on. 

Ever  since  the  scene  on  the  Hudson  River,  when 
Govert  Loockermans  had  refused  to  strike  his  flag 
to  the  “ right  ” of  Rensselaerstein,  there  had  been  dis- 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


73 


agreement  between  New  Amsterdam  and  Rensse- 
laerwyck ; and  Stuyvesant  was  not  the  man  to 
smooth  matters  over  by  a conciliatory  attitude. 
In  1648,  having  proclaimed  a fast,  Stuyvesant  found 
that  it  was  not  observed  at  Rensselaerwyck,  the 
commissary  there  taking  this  means  of  showing  his 
independence  of  New  Amsterdam.  The  first  pat- 
roon  had  never  been  in  New  Netherland.  He  was 
now  dead,  and  the  title  and  estates  descended  to  his 
son  Johan,  a minor  in  Holland.  The  guardians  of 
the  heir  had  sent  out  Brandt  van  Schlechtenhorst  as 
agent  and  commissary,  — a man  who  loved  indepen- 
dent command  as  well  as  Stuyvesant  himself.  On 
hearing  of  the  commissary’s  neglect  of  his  proclama- 
tion, the  director  went  up  to  Fort  Orange  in  per- 
son. The  fort  and  some  land  about  it  belonged  to 
the  West  India  Company ; but  the  remainder  of  the 
territory  was  the  property  of  the  patroon.  Hence  a 
conflict  of  authority  was  easy.  Stuyvesant  found 
that  the  village  of  Beverwyck,  which  had  nestled  for 
protection  close  to  the  fort,  was  on  land  belonging  to 
the  Company.  Moreover,  the  proximity  of  some  of 
the  houses  to  the  ramparts  interfered  with  the  use 
of  the  fort.  These  houses  he  ordered  to  be  pulled 
down ; and  he  further  directed  that  the  fort  should 
be  repaired  with  stone  taken  from  the  patroon’s 
land.  Van  Schlechtenhorst  refused  to  carry  out 
either  order,  and  a violent  quarrel  ensued,  even 
the  Indians  standing  about  and  wondering  why 
“Wooden  Leg”  wanted  to  pull  down  his  country- 
men’s houses.  Stuyvesant  wished  to  assert  his  au- 
thority ; but  he  also  wished  to  take  measures  to 


74 


PETER  STUYVESANT 


insure  the  safety  of  that  portion  of  New  Netherland. 
He  departed  from  Rensselaerwyck  in  great  wrath, 
and  sent  up  from  Manhattan  a detachment  of  sol- 
diery to  enforce  his  orders.  But  the  force  was  not 
enough  to  overcome  the  opposition  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, and  victory,  for  the  present,  lay  with  the 
commissary. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  Stuyvesant’s  authority 
a substantial  immigration  from  Holland  took  place ; 
the  ravages  of  the  Indian  wars  were  repaired ; 
boweries  were  repeopled ; and  trade  grew  at  New 
Amsterdam.  With  returning  prosperity  the  people 
grew  restless  under  the  commercial  rule  of  the 
West  India  Company,  and  began  to  resent  the  ar- 
bitrary domination  of  the  director.  These  Dutch- 
men had  been  accustomed  at  home  to  political 
liberty,  and  in  their  adopted  countr}'  wished  to  be 
surrounded  by  the  cherished  institutions  of  the 
fatherland.  In  the  hands  of  Stuyvesant  absolute 
authority  became  a galling  yoke.  Well  meaning 
though  he  was,  and  solicitous  for  the  good  of  the 
colony,  his  impetuous  temper  and  rough  words  kept 
him  in  an  attitude  of  apparent  hostility  toward 
the  burghers.  The  first  Board  of  Nine  Men  had 
many  conflicts  with  him.  The  second  Board,  ap- 
pointed in  r649,  ^^’ere  against  him  to  a man.  They 
accused  him  of  selling  arms  to  the  Indians,  while  he 
forbade  to  the  other  citizens  that  profitable  traffic ; 
of  monopolizing  various  branches  of  trade  for  his 
own  benefit ; and,  lastly,  of  a tyrannical  manner 
toward  persons  having  business  with  the  Company. 
The  last  accusation  was  well  founded ; the  others 
were  probably  mistaken. 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


75 


However,  the  Nine  Men  decided  among  them- 
selves that  a reform  in  the  administration  of  the 
province  was  imperatively  needed  ; abuses  must  be 
corrected,  and  a more  popular  government  secured. 
To  attain  this  end  a delegation  must  be  sent  to  Hol- 
land to  lay  the  demands  of  the  people  before  the 
College  of  the  XIX.  and  the  States-General.  The 
Board  asked  Stuyvesant’s  permission  to  call  a meet- 
ing of  the  Commonalty  to  obtain  its  support  and 
pecuniary  aid.  Stuyvesant,  as  usual,  went  into  a 
rage,  swore  that  there  should  be  no  public  meeting, 
and  that  any  communication  between  the  people 
and  the  College  should  go  through  him  only. 
Naturally,  this  method  did  not  suit  the  Nine  Men. 
As  they  were  forbidden  to  consult  the  Commonalty 
in  meeting  assembled,  they  resolved  to  do  so  indi- 
vidually and  privately.  They  went  about  from 
house  to  house  asking  from  each  burgher  his  moral 
support  and  financial  aid.  With  them  went  Adriaen 
Van  der  Donck,  — the  first  lawyer  to  settle  in  New 
Netherland,  a graduate  of  the  University  of  Leyden, 
and  a Doctor  of  Laws  ; he  took  down  in  writing  the 
substance  of  these  interviews.  Stuyvesant  was  furi- 
ous when  he  heard  of  what  was  going  on.  He  went 
in  person  to  Donck’s  house  while  the  lawyer  was 
away,  and  seized  his  papers.  Donck,  on  his  return, 
was  imprisoned.  The  director  then  called  a meet- 
ing of  burghers  chosen  by  himself,  procured  their 
approval  of  his  conduct,  expelled  Donck  from  the 
Board,  and  kept  his  papers.  Although  an  apparent 
victory  for  Stuyvesant,  this  conduct  excited  great 
dissatisfaction  in  the  colony,  and  roused  an  increased 
opposition  to  him. 


76 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


At  this  critical  juncture,  Melyn  returned  trium- 
phantly from  Holland,  bringing  with  him  a reversal 
of  his  sentence  obtained  from  Their  High  Mighti- 
nesses, together  with  a letter  ordering  Stuyvesant  to 
appear  in  person  or  by  proxy  at  The  Hague,  to 
answer  the  accusations  which  Kuyter  and  Melyn 
had  brought  against  him.  Melyn,  smarting  under 
his  ill-treatment,  was  not  inclined  to  spare  the  di- 
rector. Soon  after  his  return,  a meeting  of  citizens 
was  held  in  the  church.  There  he  went  accompa- 
nied by  his  friends,  and  demanded  that  the  reversal 
of  his  sentence  be  pronounced  as  publicly  as  the 
sentence  itself  had  been.  A hot  dispute  arose  : on 
one  side  Stuyvesant  and  his  supporters,  on  the  other 
Melyn  and  the  party  opposed  to  the  administration. 
The  question  put  to  a vote  was  decided  in  Melyn's 
favour.  So,  Van  Hardenberg,  one  of  the  Nine, 
took  the  paper  and  rose  to  read  it.  Furious  at  this 
proceeding,  Stuyvesant  declared  that  a copy  must 
first  be  served  on  him,  and  going  up  to  Van  Harden- 
berg, he  tore  the  paper  from  his  hand.  Hardenberg 
attempted  to  recover  it ; an  uproar  ensued ; the  op- 
posing parties  struggled  for  the  possession  of  the 
paper,  and  the  seal  was  tom  from  it.  This  scene 
of  violence  lasted  for  some  minutes.  Then  some  of 
the  cooler  heads  interceded.  Stuyvesant  saw  that 
his  position  was  untenable  ; Melyn  promised  to  fur- 
nish him  with  a copy,  and  Van  Hardenberg  was 
allowed  to  read  the  mutilated  paper. 

This  scene,  together  with  Stuyvesant’s  treatment 
of  Van  der  Donck  and  the  other  subjects  of  com- 
plaint, roused  so  strong  a feeling  against  the  director 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


77 


that  he  could  no  longer  prevent  the  departure  of  a 
delegation  to  Holland.  A memorial  of  the  com- 
plaints and  wants  of  the  citizens  was  drawn  up  and 
signed  on  behalf  of  the  Commonalty,  by  Augustine 
Heermans,  Arnoldus  van  Hardenberg,  Oloff  Stevenss 
(Van  Courtlandt),  Machyel  Janssen,  Thomas  Hall, 
Elbert  Elbertsen,  Covert  Loockermans,  and  Hen- 
drick Hendricksen  Kip.  The  memorial  was  dated 
July  26,  1649.  The  delegates  chosen  to  present  it 
were  Jacob  Wolfertsen  van  Couwenhoven,  Jan  Evert- 
sen  Bout,  and  Adriaen  Van  der  Donck.  Stuyvesant 
sent  Van  Tienhoven  to  represent  him. 

On  arriving  in  Holland,  Van  der  Donck  wisely 
perceived  that  he  could  expect  nothing  from  the 
West  India  Company,  who  would  support  Stuyvesant 
right  or  wrong,  and  so  he  appealed  directly  to  the 
States-Ceneral.  At  the  same  time  he  realized  the 
necessity  of  arousing  some  public  interest  in  his 
mission,  without  which  the  States-Ceneral,  occupied 
with  greater  affairs,  might  accord  the  delegates  from 
New  Netherland  but  slight  attention.  With  this 
object,  he  published  his  “ Vertoogh,”  a book  which 
set  forth  the  history  of  the  settlement  of  the  Dutch 
colonies  in  North  America,  with  many  interesting 
facts  concerning  their  progress  and  necessities.  The 
plan  was  eminently  successful.  The  book  was  so 
much  read  and  excited  so  much  attention  that  the 
Amsterdam  chamber  of  the  West  India  Company 
wrote  to  Stuyvesant:  “The  name  of  New  Nether- 
land, was  scarcely  ever  mentioned  before,  and  now  it 
would  seem  as  if  heaven  and  earth  were  interested 
in  it.” 


78 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


The  delegates  were  received  formally  in  the  great 
hall  of  the  States-General,  and  a committee  was 
appointed  to  consider  their  application.  They  asked 
for  protection  from  the  Indians,  for  freedom  of  trade, 
and,  above  all,  for  a popular  municipal  government 
in  place  of  the  arbitrary  rule  of  a commercial  Com- 
pany. They  pointed  out  the  necessity  for  encour- 
aging the  emigration  of  real  settlers  who  meant  to 
make  their  permanent  home  in  New  Netherland, 
and  without  whom  the  Dutch  territories  could  not 
be  retained.  At  present,  they  said,  there  were  too 
many  “ Scots  and  Chinese,”  — persons  who  were  de- 
fined as  “ petty  traders  who  swarm  here  with  great 
industry,  reap  immense  profit,  and  exhaust  the  coun- 
try without  adding  anything  to  its  population  or 
security.  But,  if  they  skim  a little  fat  from  the  pot, 
they  can  take  again  to  their  heels.”  Against  Stuy- 
vesant  they  urged  his  tyrannical  conduct,  his  mo- 
nopoly of  profitable  branches  of  trade,  his  injustice 
to  litigants.  “ His  manner  in  court,”  they  said,  “ has 
been  from  his  first  arrival  up  to  this  time,  to  brow- 
beat, dispute  with,  and  harass  one  of  the  two  par- 
ties. ...  If  any  one  offer  objection,  his  Honor  bursts 
forth  incontinently  into  a rage,  and  makes  such  a 
to-do  that  it  is  dreadful.”  Stuyvesaut,  they  urged, 
was  quite  uncontrolled  by  his  Council.  Van  Dinck- 
lage  was  always  overruled ; La  Montagne  was  afraid 
to  speak  frankly ; Brian  Newton  did  not  understand 
Dutch,  and  so  was  obliged  to  say  “Yes”  to  every- 
thing ; Van  Dyck  was  not  allowed  to  give  an 
opinion.  The  colony  could  never  prosper  until 
it  had  proper  courts  of  justice  and  a free  burgher 
government. 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


79 


Van  Tienhoven,  representing  Stuyvesant,  relied 
upon  the  support  of  the  West  India  Company,  and 
sought  only  to  discredit  the  motives  of  the  popular 
party.  “Arnoldus  van  Hardenberg,”  he  sneered, 
“ knew  how  to  charge  the  colonists  well  for  his 
wares.”  Oloff  Stevensen  (Van  Courtlandt)  having 
gone  out  as  a common  soldier,  had  been  promoted 
by  Kieft  to  be  commissary  of  the  store ; “ he  has 
profited  by  the  Company’s  service,  and  is  endeavour- 
ing to  give  his  benefactor  the  pay  of  the  world, — 
that  is,  evil  for  good.”  Elbert  Elbertsen  was  in 
the  Company’s  debt,  from  which  he  would  like  to 
escape ; Covert  Loockermans  owed  his  prosperity 
to  the  Company,  and  should  support  it.  Hendrick 
Kip,  he  said,  was  a tailor  who  had  lost  nothing,  pre- 
sumably, because  he  had  nothing  to  lose.  This  line 
of  defence  could  not  have  much  effect,  and  Van 
Tienhoven  soon  discredited  himself  altogether  by  be- 
ing arrested  and  imprisoned  for  immoral  conduct. 

Still,  the  delegates  had  against  them  the  influence 
of  the  West  India  Company,  whose  policy  it  was  to 
tire  them  out  by  vexatious  delays.  Postponement 
after  postponement  took  place,  causing  to  Van  der 
Donck  and  his  associates  an  expense  and  a loss  of 
time  which  they  could  ill  afford.  During  the  pro- 
gress of  the  negotiations,  their  High  Mightines- 
ses of  the  States-General  endeavoured  to  smooth 
matters  over  by  ordering  Stuyvesant  to  appear  in 
person  in  Holland,  and  the  West  India  Company 
to  institute  reforms  in  New  Netherland.  But  the 
Company,  standing  on  its  technical  rights,  disputed 
the  authority  of  the  States-General,  and  privately 


8o 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


informed  Stuyvesant  of  the  attitude  it  had  taken. 
So  when  the  director  received  the  order  to  repair 
to  Holland,  he  said  that  he  should  “ do  as  he 
pleased,”  and  he  stayed  where  he  was.  For  three 
long  years  the  faithful  delegates  urged  the  cause  of 
their  fellow-colonists  at  The  Hague  and  at  Amster- 
dam before  they  could  prevail  against  the  power  of 
the  commercial  Company  which  held  New  Nether- 
land  as  its  private  property. 

Melyn  had  been  assisting  the  delegates  at  The 
Hague,  and  in  1650  sailed  from  Holland  in  a good 
ship  laden  with  colonists  and  stores  for  his  manor  at 
Staten  Island.  When  off  the  coast,  his  ship  was 
struck  by  a storm  and  put  into  Rhode  Island  for 
repairs.  This  was  a technical  violation  of  the  West 
India  Company’s  laws  regarding  trading  without  a 
license,  although  there  was  no  proof  to  show  that 
any  trading  had  been  done.  But  when  the  ship 
arrived  at  New  Amsterdam,  and  Stu)nmsant  heard  of 
the  stopping  at  Rhode  Island,  he  seized  upon  the 
excuse  to  persecute  his  enemy.  He  brought  j\Iel}Ti 
to  trial  as  owner  of  the  vessel ; unable  to  prove  it, 
he  was  obliged  to  release  him.  But  he  confiscated 
both  ship  and  cargo, — a high-handed  act  of  tyranny, 
for  which  the  Company  had  to  pay  heary  damages 
to  the  real  owner  of  the  vessel.  Poor  Melyn  lost 
his  stores ; and  not  only  that,  Stuyrmsant  brought 
new  charges  against  him,  and  confiscated  his  prop- 
erty in  New  Amsterdam.  Mehm  retired  to  Staten 
Island,  built  a fort,  and  intrenched  himself  against 
the  fiery  director. 

Stuyvesant’s  domineering  temper  was  increasing. 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


8l 


and  the  people  were  becoming  less  inclined  to  en- 
dure it.  New  Amsterdam  was  a small  place,  and 
irritation  grew  with  constant  contact.  Money  and 
letters  were  privately  despatched  to  Holland  to  aid 
the  cause  of  the  delegates.  Disaffection  arose  even 
in  the  Council.  Van  Dincklage,  the  vice-director, 
got  up  a new  protest  in  support  of  Van  der  Donck. 
Stuyvesant  discovered  it,  and  expelled  Van  Dinck- 
lage from  the  Council.  The  vice-director  resisted, 
contending  that  his  commission  was  from  the  States- 
General.  Stuyvesant  imprisoned  him  in  the  fort. 
He  escaped,  and  took  refuge  behind  the  stockade 
of  Melyn  on  Staten  Island.  “ Our  great  Muscovy 
Duke,”  he  wrote  to  Van  der  Donck,  “goes  on  as 
usual,  resembling  somewhat  the  wolf:  the  older  he 
gets  the  worse  he  bites.  He  proceeds  no  longer  by 
words  or  letters,  but  by  arrests  and  stripes.” 

Van  Dyck,  the  schout-fiscal,  whom  Stuy\’’esant 
had  treated  with  such  severity  on  the  voyage  out, 
was  found  to  have  been  concerned  with  Van  Dinck- 
lage. He  was  punished  by  being  reduced  from  the 
office  of  fiscal,  or  attorney-general,  to  the  position 
of  a clerk.  Stuyvesant’s  opponents  assert  that  poor 
Van  Dyck  was  “ charged  to  look  after  the  pigs  and 
keep  them  out  of  the  fort,  — a duty  which  a negro 
could  very  well  perform.”  The  late  attorney-general 
objected  to  such  an  occupation,  and  then  the  direc- 
tor “got  as  angry  as  if  he  could  swallow  him  up,” 
and  when  he  disobeyed  “ put  him  in  confinement  or 
bastinadoed  him  with  his  rattan.”  Yet  the  feelings 
of  Van  Dyck  were  still  more  sorely  offended.  Van 
Tienhoven,  after  presenting  Stuyvesant’s  defence  to 
6 


82 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


the  committee  of  the  States-General,  had  been  con- 
victed of  licentious  conduct,  and  Holland  being 
too  hot  for  him,  had  returned  to  New  Amsterdam. 
Stuyvesant  now  accused  Van  Dyck  of  drunkenness, 
and  appointed  Van  Tienhoven  in  his  place  as  fiscal. 
The  appointment  was  very  unpopular,  and  particu- 
larly hateful  to  Van  Dyck.  “ The  perjured  secre- 
tary,” he  wrote,  “ returned  here  contrary  to  their 
High  Mightinesses’  prohibition ; a public,  notori- 
ous, and  convicted  whore-monger  and  oath-breaker, 
a reproach  to  this  country  and  the  main  scourge 
of  both  Christians  and  heathens.  . . . The  fault  of 
drunkenness  could  be  easily  noticed  in  me,  but  not 
in  Van  Tienhoven,  who  has  frequently  come  out 
of  the  tavern  so  full  that  he  could  get  no  further, 
and  was  forced  to  lie  down  in  the  gutter.”  All 
these  animosities  kept  New  Amsterdam  in  a fer- 
ment, and  Stuyvesant  now  went  about  accompanied 
by  a guard  of  four  soldiers. 

In  1650,  the  director  found  himself  obliged  to 
make  some  settlement  regarding  his  New  England 
boundary.  The  English  farmers  were  extending 
constantly  westward,  and  serious  quarrels  were  tak- 
ing place  between  them  and  the  Dutch  owners  of 
outlying  boweries.  Stuyvesant  concluded  wisely 
that  he  could  only  lose  by  delay,  and  that  it  was 
better  to  draw  a definite  line  somewhere,  even  if 
much  territory  justly  claimed  by  the  Dutch  had  to 
be  surrendered.  Negotiations  were  opened  with 
Connecticut,  and  commissioners  appointed  on  both 
sides.  Those  representing  the  Dutch  were  Thomas 
Willett  of  Plymouth,  and  George  Baxter,  the  Eng- 


ms  ADMINISTRATION. 


83 


lish  secretary  of  New  Netherland.  Much  indigna- 
tion was  expressed  at  New  Amsterdam  that  both 
commissioners  to  present  the  Dutch  cause  were 
Englishmen.  Stuyvesant  probably  found  it  impossi- 
ble to  select  competent  Dutchmen  who  could  speak 
English ; and  moreover  the  nationality  of  his  com- 
missioners was  of  little  importance  to  him,  as  the 
real  work  of  sustaining  the  Dutch  claims  was  to  be 
performed  by  himself.  He  proceeded  in  state  to 
Hartford,  where,  as  well  as  on  the  journey,  he  was 
treated  with  great  respect  by  the  inhabitants-  As 
he  travelled  eastward,  he  could  not  help  recognizing 
the  weakness  of  the  Dutch  claim  to  Connecticut. 
It  was  true  that  the  Dutch  had  been  the  first  white 
men  to  tread  upon  these  lands,  and  that  they  had 
taken  formal  possession  by  the  erection  of  Fort 
Good  Hope  and  the  maintenance  of  a garrison 
there.  But  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Connecticut 
was  actually  occupied  by  English  farms  and  villages- 
The  Dutch  director  had  no  power  to  compel  their 
allegiance  or  to  drive  them  away.  By  force  of 
numbers  and  by  activity  of  settlement  the  English 
had  acquired  a right  of  occupation  which  was  at 
least  as  good  as  the  Dutch  right  of  discovery.  The 
eastern  end  of  Long  Island  was  in  the  same  situa- 
tion as  Connecticut. 

When  the  negotiations  were  opened,  Stuyvesant 
raised  a small  storm  by  characteristically  dating  his 
first  communication  from  “ Hartford  in  New  Nether- 
land.” But  this  blew  over,  and  business  proceeded 
quite  amicably.  The  agreement  reached  provided 
that  the  line  dividing  Dutch  and  English  jurisdiction 


84 


PETER  STVYVESANT. 


on  Long  Island  should  run  from  Oyster  Bay  to  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  On  the  mainland,  the  line  began 
west  of  Greenwich  Bay,  four  miles  from  Stamford, 
and  ran  northerly  thence ; but  it  was  never  to  ap- 
proach nearer  than  ten  miles  to  the  Hudson  River. 
In  the  vicinity  of  Hartford,  the  Dutch  were  consid- 
ered as  controlling  only  such  lands  as  they  actually 
held  and  cultivated.  This  agreement  was  condemned 
vigorously  at  New  Amsterdam,  where  the  people  re- 
proached Stuyvesant  with  the  abandonment  of  so 
large  a portion  of  New  Netherland.  The  West  India 
Company  also  disapproved  the  treaty.  Yet  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  Stuyvesant  knew  best,  and 
set  the  wise  course  for  the  Dutch  to  pursue  under 
the  circumstances. 

At  last,  in  the  beginning  of  1653,  Van  der  Donck 
and  his  companions  returned  to  New  Amsterdam 
with  the  hard-earned  fruits  of  their  patriotic  labours 
in  Holland.  The  West  India  Company  had  op- 
posed them  long  with  success ; but  the  collapse  of 
Van  Tienhoven,  the  continued  support  sent  to  the 
delegates  from  New  Amsterdam,  the  persistent  ap- 
peals by  Van  der  Donck,  Bout,  and  Couwenhoven 
to  the  States-General  and  the  people  of  Hohand  had 
proved  too  much  for  the  Company.  It  was  obliged 
to  yield,  or  see  its  power  transferred  altogether  to 
the  States-General.  The  government  of  New  Am- 
sterdam was  henceforth  to  be  conducted  by  two 
burgomasters,  five  schepens,  and  a schout,  or  sheriff, 
after  the  manner  of  the  towns  of  the  fatherland. 
These  offices  were  directed  to  be  filled  by  election. 
But  Stuy\'esant,  disregarding  the  orders  of  the  States- 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


85 


General  to  that  effect,  took  it  upon  himself  to  fill 
them  by  his  own  appointment.  The  first  burgo- 
masters were  Arendt  van  Hatten  and  Martin 
Cregier ; the  schepens,  Wilhelm  Beeckman,  Paulus 
Leendertsen  van  der  Grist,  Maximilian  van  Gheel, 
Allard  Anthony,  Pieter  Wolfertsen  van  Couwen- 
hoven ; and  Jacob  Kip  was  the  first  secretary  to  the 
magistrates.  It  is  significant  that  none  of  those 
men  to  whose  efforts  the  great  reform  was  chiefly 
due  were  appointed  to  office.  Still,  the  appoint- 
ments were  good  and  well  received.  Van  Tien- 
hoven,  however,  was  made  the  schout,  which  gave 
great  dissatisfaction.  It  is  difficult  to  understand 
Stuyvesant’s  continued  support  of  this  man  except 
on  the  ground  that  he  made  a useful  tool.  Thus 
began  municipal  government  on  Manhattan  Island, 
where  burgomasters  and  schepens  conducted  the 
city’s  affairs  until  the  English  had  taken  the  place 
of  the  Dutch  flag.  The  labours  of  these  officers  will 
be  considered  in  another  chapter. 

At  the  same  time  that  their  High  Mightinesses 
granted  the  reforms  asked  for  by  Van  der  Donck,  they 
commanded  Stuyvesant  to  return  to  Holland  to  an- 
swer the  accusations  which  had  been  made  against 
himself.  But  this  order  was  soon  rescinded.  War 
had  broken  out  between  England  and  Holland ; 
Blake  and  Tromp  were  contending  for  the  mastery 
of  the  English  Channel ; and  Stuyvesant’s  hand,  too 
heavy  in  times  of  peace,  was  needed  at  the  helm  in 
the  prevailing  storm.  The  news  of  the  European 
war  was  received  in  New  England  and  New  Am- 
sterdam with  consternation,  as  it  seemed  to  involve 


86 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


hostilities  between  the  colonies.  Stuyvesant,  know- 
ing his  own  slender  resources,  was  much  troubled 
at  the  prospect,  and  sent  to  New  England  and 
Virginia  assurances  of  his  continued  friendly  feeling. 
But  the  danger  was  imminent,  and  all  the  director’s 
energies  were  concentrated  on  measures  of  defence. 
The  northerly  boundary  of  the  town,  where  an  attack 
by  the  English  would  be  made,  was  quite  unpro- 
tected. Stuyvesant  began  the  construction  of  a 
ditch  and  palisade  from  the  East  to  the  North  River, 
upon  which  work  was  pushed  rapidly  while  the  dan- 
ger of  invasion  lasted.  The  palisade  was  erected  on 
the  present  site  of  Wall  Street,  whence  the  name  was 
derived.  There  was  a gate  on  the  shore  of  the  East 
River  called  the  Water  Gate,  and  another  at  Broad- 
way called  the  Land  Gate.  The  inhabitants  at  first 
cheerfully  seconded  Stuyvesant’s  efforts  to  erect 
this  defence  : but  as  war  became  less  probable,  they 
refused  to  go  on  with  it,  and  Stuyvesant  was  obliged 
to  raise  the  necessary  means  to  complete  the  work 
by  a private  subscription  among  the  richer  citizens. 

In  New  England  the  alarm  of  coming  w'ar  was 
intensified  by  a report  circulated  in  Connecticut,  as 
derived  from  Uncas  the  Mohegan  chief,  that  Stuy- 
vesant was  in  league  with  Pessicus,  Mixam,  and 
Ninigret,  chiefs  of  other  tribes,  to  make  a concerted 
descent  upon  the  English.  As  soon  as  the  director 
heard  of  the  story,  he  denied  it  publicly  and  indig- 
nantly. Still,  the  possibility  of  savage  hostilities  was 
so  much  dreaded  that  New  England  sent  commis- 
sioners among  the  tribes  to  investigate  the  report. 
To  them  Uncas  said  : “ Do  not  we  know  the  Eng- 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


87 


lish  are  not  a sleepy  people  ? Do  they  think  we  are 
mad  to  sell  our  lives  and  the  lives  of  our  wives  and 
children  and  all  our  kindred,  and  to  have  our  country 
destroyed  for  a few  guns,  powder,  shot,  and  swords  ? 
What  good  will  they  do  us  when  we  are  dead?” 
Ninigret,  in  his  defence,  set  forth  the  contemptuous 
treatment  of  himself  by  Stuyvesant : “ I stood  a great 
part  of  a winter’s  day  knocking  at  the  governor’s 
door,  and  he  would  neither  open  it  nor  suffer  others 
to  open  it  to  let  me  in.  I was  not  wont  to  find 
such  treatment  from  the  English  my  friends.” 

Massachusetts  was  persuaded  of  Stuyvesant’s 
peaceful  intentions,  and  refused  to  join  Connecticut 
in  making  war  on  the  Dutch.  The  Connecticut 
people,  being  so  much  nearer  the  point  of  danger 
and  so  much  more  liable  to  Indian  attacks,  were 
less  confident  of  security;  but  they  could  not  pro- 
ceed without  the  help  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Gov- 
ernor Eaton  sent  Captain  John  Underhill  to  Long 
Island  to  investigate  there  the  reported  conspiracy. 
Underhill,  who  was  a turbulent  fellow,  did  not  trouble 
himself  to  investigate,  but  began  a small  war  on  his 
own  account.  Raising  his  standard  at  Heemstede 
and  Flushing,  he  made  proclamation  that  Stuyve- 
sant had  been  guilty  of  unlawful  taxation,  conspir- 
acy with  Indians,  violation  of  conscience  and  other 
obnoxious  conduct,  and  called  upon  the  Dutch 
and  English  inhabitants  to  throw  off  his  tyranni- 
cal yoke.  Stuyvesant  arrested  Underhill,  and  would 
have  hanged  him ; but  thinking  it  a good  opportu- 
nity to  show  his  friendship  toward  New  England,  he 
released  him  after  a short  imprisonment. 


88 


PETER  SrUYVESANT. 


The  graceless  Underhill  then  went  to  Rhode 
Island,  where  he  succeeded  in  inducing  the  General 
Assembly  to  declare  war  against  New  Netherland. 
He  was  made  captain  of  the  land  forces,  while 
William  Dyre  and  Edward  Hull  were  appointed 
commanders  on  the  sea,  to  relieve  the  English  on 
Long  Island  “ from  the  cruell  tirannie  of  the  Dutch 
power  at  the  Manathoes  ” and  to  “bring  the  Dutch 
to  conformitie  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England.” 
Underhill  set  out  for  Fort  Good  Hope  mth  twenty 
volunteers.  The  deserted  and  ruined  fort,  with 
about  thirty  acres  of  land,  was  all  that  remained  to 
the  Dutch  in  the  Connecticut  valley.  This  property 
Underhill  claimed  by  right  of  conquest,  and  sold  to 
two  different  persons,  giving  to  each  a deed.  Then 
he  disbanded  his  valiant  army.  At  sea,  Hull  took  a 
French  ship,  which  was  not  a severe  blow  to  Stuy- 
vesant ; and  Baxter,  under  a letter  of  marque  from 
Rhode  Island,  turned  pirate  and  attacked  Dutch 
and  English  vessels  impartially. 

A number  of  fights  occurring  among  the  Indians, 
and  some  outrages  upon  white  settlers  at  this  time 
renewed  in  Connecticut  the  fears  of  Indian  hostility. 
The  prospect  of  such  a calamity  was  so  appalling, 
and  a belief  in  a league  between  Dutch  and  Indians 
so  strong,  that  the  people  prepared  actively  for  a 
war.  Until  New  Netherland  should  be  subject  to 
English  rule,  there  seemed  no  certainty  that  the 
savages  could  be  kept  in  subjection.  Large  gather- 
ings of  armed  men  took  place  at  Stamford  and 
Fairfield.  Massachusetts  was  loudly  blamed  for  her 
refusal  to  send  assistance.  Commissioners  were 


HIS  ADMimSTRATIOH. 


89 


sent  to  England  to  ask  Cromwell  for  men  and  arms, 
and  Governor  Hopkins,  who  was  then  in  London, 
was  urged  to  press  the  demand.  Cromwell  com- 
plied ; and  several  vessels,  with  arms  and  soldiers 
under  Captain  Leverett  and  Major  Sedgwick,  reached 
America,  where  Plymouth  and  New  Haven  had  raised 
a co-operating  force.  But  before  the  beginning  of 
hostilities,  in  1654,  news  arrived  that  peace  had 
been  concluded  between  England  and  Holland.  It 
was  a fortunate  escape  for  New  Netherland,  which 
must  have  yielded  to  so  superior  a force.  Stuyve- 
sant  had  realized  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  on 
the  announcement  of  peace  he  set  apart  a day  of 
thanksgiving.  “ Praise  the  Lord,”  ran  the  procla- 
mation, “ O England’s  Jerusalem  ! and  Netherland’s 
Zion,  praise  ye  the  Lord  ! He  hath  secured  your 
gates  and  blessed  your  possessions  with  peace,  even 
here  where  the  threatened  torch  of  war  was  lighted ; 
where  the  waves  reached  our  lips,  and  subsided  only 
through  the  power  of  the  Almighty.” 

After  the  establishment  of  burgher  government  in 
New  Amsterdam  there  continued  to  be  some  fric- 
tion regarding  taxation  between  Stu3wesant,  as  the 
representative  of  the  West  India  Company,  and 
the  municipality.  But  with  this  exception,  matters 
went  smoothly  enough.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
was  much  discontent  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
English  towns  on  Long  Island.  They  were  still 
subject  to  the  rule  of  the  West  India  Company, 
and  paid  taxes  to  the  director.  They  claimed  that 
no  protection  against  the  Indians  was  afforded  them, 
and  that  they  got  no  equivalent  for  their  money. 


90 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


In  1653  these  towns  chose  delegates  to  a conven- 
tion held  at  the  Stadt  Huys  in  New  Amsterdam, 
under  the  leadership  of  George  Baxter  and  James 
Hubbard.  These  English  residents  of  New  Nether- 
land  had  been  relied  upon  hitherto  by  Stuy\'esant 
as  a support  against  the  disaffected  Dutch  party. 
Their  opposition  was,  therefore,  a serious  blow  to 
him.  When  the  convention  met,  he  sent  La  hlon- 
tagne  and  Van  Werckhoven  of  his  Council  to  rep- 
resent him.  The  delegates  declined  positively  to 
receive  Van  Werckhoven,  and  refused  to  allow  La 
Montague  or  the  director  himself  to  preside  over 
them.  They  made  the  point  that  while  acknowl- 
edging allegiance  to  the  States-General  of  Holland, 
they  rejected  the  authority  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany. Hence  they  would  receive  into  the  con- 
vention representatives  of  the  burgomasters  and 
schepens,  but  not  of  the  director.  Furthermore, 
they  declared  that  as  they  were  obliged  to  take 
their  own  measures  for  defence,  they  would  pay  no 
more  taxes  to  the  Company. 

Stuyvesant  was  much  enraged,  and  informed  the 
convention  that  its  conduct  “ smelt  of  rebellion,  of 
contempt  of  his  high  authority  and  commission,” 
which  was  indeed  the  fact.  Unable  to  prevent  this 
new  disaffection,  he  sought  to  modify  its  effects.  If 
a convention  were  to  be  held,  he  claimed,  the  Dutch 
as  well  as  the  English  towns  had  a right  to  be  rep- 
resented in  it.  The  delegates  had  to  agree  to  this, 
and  postponed  their  meeting  for  a month,  saying, 
“ the  director  might  then  do  as  he  pleased,  and 
prevent  it  if  he  could.” 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


91 


On  re-assembling,  delegates  appeared  from  the 
four  Dutch  towns,  New  Amsterdam,  Breukelen, 
Amersfoort  (Flatlands),  and  Midwout  (Flatbush)  ; 
and  four  English  towns,  — Flushing,  Newtown, 
Heemstede,  and  Gravesend.  Nine  Englishmen 
and  ten  Dutchmen  composed  the  convention. 
George  Baxter  was  secretary,  and  drew  up  the 
memorial  of  grievances.  Stuyvesant  sought  to  sow 
discord  among  the  members.  “ Is  there  no  one 
among  the  Netherlands  nation,”  he  inquired  scorn- 
fully, “ expert  enough  to  draw  up  a remonstrance  to 
the  director  and  Council,  . . . that  a foreigner  or 
an  Englishman  is  required  to  dictate  what  you  have 
to  say?”  But  this  taunt  did  not  disturb  the  union 
of  the  delegates.  They  presented  their  memorial, 
complaining  of  the  arbitrary  character  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  of  its  neglect  of  their  interests ; the 
West  India  Company  collected  taxes,  and  left  them 
to  fight  their  own  battles  with  the  savages.  Stuy- 
vesant replied,  denying  that  there  was  any  cause  of 
complaint.  A debate  followed.  The  director  took 
the  ground  that  there  was  no  inherent  right  in  the 
people  to  share  in  the  government,  and  that  the 
convention  itself  was  an  unlawful  body.  The 
delegates  manfully  sustained  the  contrary,  and  car- 
ried their  views  into  effect  by  sending  to  Holland 
an  agent,  named  Le  Bleeuw,  to  argue  their  cause. 
The  mission  failed ; the  agent’s  remonstrances 
were  considered  frivolous,  and  he  was  forbidden  to 
return  to  New  Netherland.  The  West  India  Com- 
pany wrote  to  Stuyvesant  that  his  administration 
was  approved.  His  only  fault  had  been  in  showing 


92 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


too  much  leniency  to  “ the  ring-leaders  of  the 
gang,”  and  in  condescending  to  parley  with  them. 
So  Stuyvesant  expelled  Baxter  and  Hubbard  from 
their  offices.  Soon  afterward  they  raised  the 
English  flag  at  Gravesend,  and  declared  the  town 
subject  to  England.  The  director  then  sent  a 
military  force  to  Long  Island,  captured  the  English- 
men, and  locked  them  up  at  New  Amsterdam. 
Thus  ended  the  last  organized  opposition  against 
the  rule  of  Stuyvesant  and  of  the  West  India 
Company. 

The  Dutch  possessions  on  the  South  or  Delaware 
River  had  never  been  successfully  settled  or  strongly 
held.  After  a time  the  Swedes  began  a colony 
there  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  They 
commanded  the  most  favourable  situation  for  the 
Indian  trade,  grew  in  numbers,  and  quite  overruled 
the  Dutch,  who  were  allowed  to  retain  their  lands 
only  on  sufferance.  The  Dutch  claims  to  sole  own- 
ership of  the  river  excited  only  the  derision  of  the 
Swedes,  whose  superior  strength  made  acts  of  hos- 
tility unnecessary.  In  1654  the  Dutch  fort  Casimir, 
commanded  by  Gerrit  Bikker,  was  occupied  by  the 
Swedish  Captain  Rysyngh,  and  its  name  changed 
to  Fort  Trinity.  The  Dutch  inhabitants  were  kindly 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  country,  but  under  the 
Swedish  flag. 

The  news  of  these  proceedings  created  great  ex- 
citement at  New  .\msterdam.  Stujwesant’s  rage 
was  shared  by  the  burghers,  who  gathered  about  the 
fort  to  denounce  the  outrage.  An  unfortunate 
Swedish  ship,  on  its  way  to  the  South  River,  ran 


HIS  ADMINISTRATIOH. 


93 


aground  near  the  mouth  of  the  harbour,  and,  igno- 
rant of  the  state  of  affairs,  sent  up  to  New  Amster- 
dam for  a pilot.  Instead  of  the  pilot,  Stuyvesant 
sent  a vessel  full  of  soldiers,  who  brought  the  Swede 
up  to  New  Amsterdam,  where  she  and  her  cargo 
were  confiscated.  This  incident  afforded  some  al- 
leviation to  the  director’s  fury,  and  he  sought  to 
open  a negotiation  with  Rysyngh.  But  the  Swedish 
commander,  satisfied  with  possession,  declined  to 
enter  into  a discussion.  Stuyvesant  was  belligerent, 
but  had  not  the  means  for  hostile  measures ; he 
could  only  write  an  indignant  account  of  the  event 
to  the  West  India  Company,  and  ask  for  assistance. 
While  awaiting  a reply,  he  carried  out  a long-de- 
layed purpose,  and  made  a voyage  to  the  West 
Indies  to  open  new  trade  for  the  Dutch.  But 
in  this  object  he  was  defeated  by  the  efforts  of 
the  English. 

When  the  directors  of  the  West  India  Company 
heard  of  the  capture  of  Fort  Casimir  by  the  Swedes, 
they  were  as  angry  as  Stuyvesant  could  wish.  The 
director  of  New  Netherland  was  ordered  to  drive 
away  the  intruders,  and  a ship  of  war,  named  the 
“ Balance,”  was  sent  to  him.  Great  preparations 
were  made  at  New  Amsterdam  for  the  enterprise, 
and  all  possible  secrecy  was  observed  with  the  pur- 
pose of  surprising  the  enemy.  Six  other  ships  were 
hired  or  impressed ; a force  of  six  or  seven  hundred 
men  was  collected.  The  expedition,  planned  on  a 
scale  which  must  be  overwhelmingly  superior  to  the 
Swedish  means  of  defence,  was  so  evidently  destined 
to  easy  victory  that  every  man  in  New  Amsterdam 


c 


94 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


wished  to  take  part  in  it.  A summer  voyage  to  the 
Delaware  River,  with  glory  at  the  end  of  it,  was  a 
more  attractive  prospect  than  the  routine  of  daily 
toil  at  home.  So  the  fleet  set  sail  in  the  midst  of 
jollity  and  confident  valour. 

Stuyvesant  arrived  in  the  South  River  on  Sept, 
lo,  1655.  Trinity  surrendered  at  the  first 

summons.  Rysyngh  held  out  for  Pvelve  days  in 
Fort  Christina.  A great  deal  of  talking  was  done, 
and  a great  deal  of  firing ; but  very  little  injury  was 
received  on  either  side.  Rysyngh,  having  made 
a show  of  resistance,  yielded  to  the  inevitable ; the 
Swedes  were  allowed  to  stay  where  they  were  on 
taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  ; and  a Dutch  gar- 
rison was  placed  in  charge  of  the  fort.  Domine 
Megapolensis,  who  had  gone  as  chaplain,  preached 
a thanksgiving  sermon.  Thus  ended  Swedish  rule 
on  the  South  River.  But  the  Dutch  never  pros- 
pered there.  The  West  India  Company  conveyed 
the  territory  to  the  City  of  Amsterdam,  in  return 
for  advances  of  money,  and  the  colony  was  only  a 
trading-post  when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
English  with  the  rest  of  New  Netherland. 

AVhile  Stuy^msant  was  in  the  midst  of  his  triumph 
over  the  Swedes,  he  was  suddenly  recalled  to  New 
Amsterdam  by  the  news  of  a great  calamity.  He 
had  always  kept  on  satisfactory  terms  with  the 
Indians ; his  conduct  toward  them  had  been  a 
mixture  of  sternness  and  justice  which  commanded 
their  respect.  But  others  had  been  less  judicious, 
and  lately  a brutal  murder  had  roused  their  just 
resentment.  Van  Dyck,  the  late  fiscal,  whom  Stuy- 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


95 


vesant  had  expelled  from  office,  discovered  a squaw 
in  his  garden  picking  the  peaches  from  trees.  He 
fired  upon  and  killed  her.  This  outrage  demanded 
revenge,  and  the  director’s  absence  with  the  fighting 
force  of  the  town  gave  the  opportunity.  One  morn- 
ing in  September,  the  streets  of  New  Amsterdam 
began  to  swarm  with  savages  in  war-paint.  At  first 
they  made  no  attempt  to  kill,  but  contented  them- 
selves with  bullying  and  robbing.  The  burghers,  so 
much  reduced  in  numbers,  dared  make  no  resistance 
to  the  plundering  of  their  houses.  Such  soldiers  as 
remained  at  home  were  kept  in  readiness  in  the 
fort,  and  meanwhile  the  Dutch  sought  to  temporize 
and  to  come  to  a peaceable  agreement  with  the 
savages.  An  arrangement  was  made  that  the  Indi- 
ans should  all  go  over  to  Nutten’s,  or  Governor’s, 
Island,  there  to  await  the  result  of  a conference 
between  the  burghers  and  the  chiefs ; but  a quar- 
rel occurred,  and  fighting  began  no  one  knew  how. 
Van  Dyck  was  killed  by  an  arrow ; Captain  Van  der 
Grist  was  felled  with  an  axe.  The  struggle  extended ; 
the  soldiers  were  called  from  the  fort,  and  before 
their  organized  attack  the  Indians  fled  in  canoes. 

But  they  were  now  excited  by  bloodshed.  Instead 
of  going  to  Governor’s  Island,  they  went  to  Pavonia 
and  Hoboken.  What  happened  there  was  too  well 
known  to  the  people  on  Manhattan  Island,  who  stood 
on  the  shore  and  watched  the  flames  arise  from  the 
ravaged  boweries.  Men  were  killed,  women  and 
children  taken  prisoners.  The  savages  then  went  to 
Staten  Island,  where  the  same  scenes  were  enacted. 
For  three  days  there  was  burning  and  murdering 


96 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


all  about  the  Bay,  Long  Island,  and  Manhattan 
Island.  The  killed  numbered  one  hundred ; the 
prisoners,  one  hundred  and  fifty;  the  homeless, 
three  hundred. 

Stuyvesant  returned  as  soon  as  the  news  reached 
him,  called  in  the  outlying  farmers,  and  prepared 
for  hostilities ; but  the  Indians  sued  for  peace. 
Their  attack  had  been  provoked,  and  they  had 
many  prisoners  in  their  power.  Instead  of  seeking 
new  vengeance  and  prolonging  the  war  indefinitely 
as  Kieft  had  done,  the  director  granted  a peace, 
and  received  back  the  prisoners.  The  result  proved 
his  wisdom,  for  there  was  no  renewal  of  war  on 
the  part  of  the  tribes  about  New  Amsterdam.  At 
Rensselaerwyck,  no  trouble  was  experienced.  When 
knowledge  of  the  hostilities  at  New  Amsterdam  was 
received  there,  the  usual  policy  of  conciliating  the 
Mohawks  was  resorted  to,  and  none  of  the  other 
tribes  dared  to  attack  such  allies. 

In  1658  another  disastrous  Indian  war  broke  out, 
which  affected  only  the  town  of  Esopus  on  the 
Hudson  River,  near  Rondout.  The  Dutch  there 
were  the  aggressors,  and  the  usual  course  of  fighting 
and  burning  continued  intermittently  until  1663.  In 
that  year  Stuyvesant  went  up  in  person  to  settle  the 
disputes,  and  to  put  an  end  to  a state  of  hostility  in 
which  the  settlers  could  not  fail  to  have  the  worst. 
While  he  was  holding  a conference  with  the  chiefs, 
the  warriors  suddenly  fired  the  village,  and  began  a 
massacre  of  the  whites.  After  this  treachery,  Scuy- 
vesant  abandoned  peaceful  methods,  and  followed 
up  the  Indians  until  the  small  surviving  remnant 


HIS  ADMINISTRATION. 


97 


was  glad  to  sue  for  peace.  The  troubles  were  ter- 
minated by  treaty  in  1664,  — the  last  Indian  treaty 
made  by  the  Dutch. 

Religious  affairs  never  played  the  important  part 
in  New  Netherland  that  they  did  in  New  England. 
The  Dutch  had  won  freedom  of  conscience  in  the 
wars  with  Spain  and  the  Inquisition.  They  had  come 
to  New  Netherland  only  for  self-advancement,  and 
there  existed  generally  among  the  people  a toler- 
ance of  religious  differences,  and  indeed  an  apathy 
toward  sectarian  disputes.  Society  in  New  Amster- 
dam was  divided  by  political,  but  not  by  religious, 
quarrels.  For  thirty  years  after  the  settlement  of 
Long  Island  no  church  was  built  there,  the  people 
depending  upon  the  minister  at  New  Amsterdam 
for  spiritual  aid.  With  theological  rigour  and  per- 
secution there  was  no  sympathy.  With  these  senti- 
ments the  West  India  Company  was  in  full  accord, 
and  it  intended  New  Netherland  to  be  a common 
ground  for  persons  of  all  opinions. 

It  was  the  arbitrary  spirit  of  the  director,  rather 
than  religious  narrowness  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch, 
that  brought  about  such  persecution  as  occurred  in 
New  Netherland.  Stuyvesant  was  a devout  member 
of  the  Reformed  Church  ; but  above  all  he  believed 
in  obedience  to  established  authority,  that  power  was 
derived  from  God,  and  that  any  one  who  rejected  the 
generally  accepted  order  of  things  was  a disturber 
of  the  peace,  and  should  be  suppressed.  When  he 
persecuted  a Lutheran  or  a Quaker,  it  was  not  so 
much  the  religious  tenet  that  he  attacked  as  it  was 
the  individual  man  who  presumed  to  set  up  peculiar 


7 


98 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


views  of  his  own  and  obstinately  follow  them  out, 
when  the  right  way  had  been  pointed  out  to  him  by 
his  superiors. 

In  1654  the  Lutherans  had  become  numerous 
enough  to  have  religious  meetings  of  their  own. 
Stuyvesant  issued  a proclamation  to  them,  pointing 
out  the  propriety  of  their  attendance  at  the  regular 
Dutch  church.  What  was  good  enough  for  the 
other  inhabitants  was  good  enough  for  them.  When 
they  tried  to  get  a meeting- room  for  services,  he 
prevented  it.  When  they  procured  a minister  from 
Holland,  the  director  made  life  so  uncomfortable 
for  him  that  he  left  the  colony.  To  have  one  body 
of  non-conformists  at  liberty  was  to  invite  the  pres- 
ence of  others ; the  idea  was  offensive  to  the  direc- 
tor’s sense  of  order.  The  Domines  Megapolensis 
and  Drisius  were  intolerant  enough  to  support  him. 
But  the  Lutherans  appealed  to  Holland,  where  they 
found  relief  in  the  national  spirit  of  liberality.  The 
West  India  Company  blamed  Stuyvesant  for  perse- 
cuting these  people,  on  grounds  of  both  policy  and 
principle.  To  retard  the  growth  and  happiness  of 
a commercial  colony  on  account  of  a “ needless 
preciseness  ” on  the  subject  of  baptism  was  an 
act  of  folly ; nor  was  it  in  accordance  with  the 
Christian  spirit.  So  the  Lutherans,  who  were  law- 
abiding  persons,  were  allowed  henceforth  full  liberty 
of  worship. 

Stuyvesant  could  accept  the  Lutheran  Church, 
and  could  even  in  1656  treat  the  Anabaptists  on 
Long  Island  with  comparative  mildness.  But  he 
could  not  endure  the  Quakers.  They  were  ob- 


HIS  ADMINISTRATIOH. 


99 


noxious  to  him,  as  a Calvinist ; but  as  director 
their  methods  offended  him  much  more,  and  his 
anger  at  their  obstinacy  carried  him  beyond  all 
bounds.  In  1657  there  arrived  some  “ cursed 
Quakers ; ” they  had  been  expelled  from  Boston, 
and  now  reached  New  Amsterdam  from  Barbadoes, 
on  their  way  to  Rhode  Island,  — that  “ sink  of  New 
England,  where  all  kinds  of  scum  dwell,”  as  the 
Domines  Megapolensis  and  Drisius  described  it. 
These  Quakers  went  about  the  streets  of  the  quiet 
Dutch  town,  gathering  crowds  on  the  corners,  har- 
anguing against  steeple- houses,  a priesthood,  and  the 
powers  that  be  in  general.  The  inhabitants  of  New 
Amsterdam  stood  about,  and  stared,  without  under- 
standing the  pious  exhorters.  But  scenes  of  dis- 
order were  of  constant  occurrence,  and  the  Quakers 
would  submit  to  no  regulation.  Nothing  could  be 
better  calculated  to  excite  the  wrath  of  Stuyvesant. 
Two  of  the  women-preachers  were  thrown  into 
prison,  and  sent  off,  with  their  hands  tied  be- 
hind them,  on  the  first  ship  bound  for  Rhode 
Island.  But  a man  named  Robert  Hodgson  was 
more  aggravating  in  his  conduct,  and  suffered  a 
barbarous  treatment.  He  was  arrested  at  Heem- 
stede,  where  he  had  been  preaching,  and  brought 
to  New  Amsterdam  at  a cart’s  tail.  When  arraigned 
in  court,  he  drove  the  director  into  a paroxysm  of 
rage  by  refusing  to  remove  his  hat,  which  was  his 
way  of  showing  respect  to  God  alone.  Stuyvesant 
proceeded  to  reduce  the  obstinate  rebel  to  sub- 
mission. He  was  chained  to  a wheelbarrow,  and 
compelled  to  work  on  the  roads  3 a negro  accom- 


100 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


panied  him  armed  with  a whip ; he  slept  in  a dun- 
geon. But  Hodgson’s  spirit  was  hard  to  break, 
and  he  preached  to  the  passers-by  from  his  wheel- 
barrow. For  this  disobedience  Stuyvesant  had  him 
hung  up  by  the  hands,  and  severely  beaten.  The 
contest  between  the  outraged  director  and  the 
obstinate  preacher  continued  until  the  Dutch  be- 
came disgusted  with  the  spectacle.  Mrs.  Anna 
Bayard,  Stuyvesant’s  sister,  interceded  for  the  un- 
fortunate Quaker,  and  he  was  released,  with  a 
sentence  of  banishment. 

Another  contumacious  Quaker  named  John  Bonme, 
an  old  resident  of  Flushing,  was  sent  to  Holland ; 
Stuyvesant,  writing  to  the  directors  of  his  offence, 
declared  that  he  meant  to  treat  others  more  se- 
verely. But  the  West  India  Company  would  not 
permit  it.  To  send  away  active  citizens  on  account 
of  their  religion  was  not  the  way  to  populate  the 
colony.  They  ordered  Stuyvesant  to  “ let  every 
one  remain  free  as  long  as  he  is  modest,  moderate, 
his  political  conduct  irreproachable,  and  as  long  as 
he  does  not  offend  others  or  oppose  the  govern- 
ment.” This  was  the  time-honoured  custom  of  the 
magistrates  of  Amsterdam  : “ Tread  thus  in  their 
steps,  and  we  doubt  not  you  will  be  blessed.” 
Stuyvesant  obeyed  this  injunction,  and  thus  ended 
a religious  persecution  which  had  never  had  the 
sympathy  of  the  people  of  New  Netherland. 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  Stuyv'esant’s  govern- 
ment the  emigration  from  Holland  had  been  stead- 
ily increasing,  and  was  of  a good  class  of  farmers 
and  burghers.  By  1660  New  Amsterdam  had  three 


ms  ADMINISTRATION. 


lOI 


hundred  and  fifty  houses.  Outside  settlements  in- 
creased rapidly,  and  boweries  were  cultivated  as  far 
as  the  Haarlem  River.  In  1656  the  Rust  Dorp, 
or  Quiet  Village,  was  settled,  which  was  afterward 
called  by  the  English  Jamaica,  from  the  Indian 
name  Jemaico.  New  Utrecht  and  Boswyck,  or 
Bush  wick,  followed  in  1661.  About  1656  Oost 
Dorp  was  settled  in  Westchester  County,  principally 
by  Englishmen  ■,  Thomas  Pell  bought  a tract  of 
land,  which  included  the  old  possessions  of  the 
unfortunate  Anne  Hutchinson.  In  1660  New 
Haarlem  became  a distinct  village.  In  1661 
Melyn  gave  up  the  struggle  with  Stuyvesant,  and 
sold  his  property  on  Staten  Island  to  the  West 
India  Company.  There  sprang  up  New  Dorp, 
built  by  French  Waldenses  and  Rochelle  Hugue- 
nots. In  the  same  year  Bergen  was  founded  in 
New  Jersey,  which  preserved  Dutch  characteristics 
long  after  they  had  been  crowded  out  elsewhere. 

Meanwhile  Rensselaerwyck  pursued  its  even  way, 
untroubled  by  religious  or  political  dissensions.  Its 
alliance  with  the  powerful  Mohawk  nation,  wisely 
maintained,  preserved  it  from  the  dangers  of  In- 
dian war.  The  inhabitants  traded  in  furs,  culti- 
vated their  rich  soil,  fished  and  hunted  in  peace. 
The  patroon’s  agent  governed  in  his  name,  so  far  as 
any  government  was  necessary.  Stuyvesant  had  a 
long-continued  quarrel  with  this  agent,  whom  he 
kept  under  arrest  at  New  Amsterdam  for  a time,  for 
defiance  of  his  authority.  But  toward  the  end  of 
the  Dutch  rule  in  New  Netherland  the  patroon’s 
officers  acknowledged  the  director’s  supremacy  by 


102 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


an  annual  tribute  of  wheat.  In  i66i  Arendt  van 
Curler  bought  for  the  patroon  the  “ great  flat”  be- 
tween Fort  Orange  and  the  Mohawk  countr}^,  which 
was  then  opened  to  settlement.  In  1664  Schaen- 
heckstede,  now  Schenectady,  was  founded. 

Such,  briefly  stated,  were  the  more  important 
events  of  Stuyvesant’s  administration  as  far  as  the 
period  when  New  Netherland  became  New  York. 
That  a considerable  portion  of  the  province  had 
fallen  under  English  rule  was  due  to  the  want  of 
a sufficient  Dutch  emigration  and  not  to  any  fault 
of  the  director.  The  same  difficulty  had  prevented 
the  development  of  the  territory  about  the  Delaware 
River.  On  Long  Island  and  along  the  shores  of 
the  Hudson  River  the  Dutch  had  flourished  and  had 
made  permanent  homes.  New  Amsterdam  had  be- 
come an  orderly,  substantial  town,  already  marked 
by  characteristics  destined  to  be  lasting.  There 
prevailed  religious  and  political  liberty,  a cosmo- 
politan spirit  tolerant  of  varied  tongues  and  cus- 
toms, a commercial  activity  suited  to  an  unequalled 
maritime  situation.  In  the  next  chapter  w’e  shall 
consider  the  outward  appearance  of  the  town  in  the 
days  of  Dutch  supremacy,  its  social,  educational,  and 
national  features. 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  103 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM  IN  THE  TIME  OF 
PETER  STUYVESANT. 

In  the  early  days  of  Dutch  settlement  the  fort 
was  the  centre  of  activity,  being  at  once  the  busi- 
ness headquarters  of  the  West  India  Company  and 
the  only  safe  refuge  from  external  danger.  About 
it  clustered  the  storehouses  and  dwellings  of  the 
colonists.  As  the  settlement  increased,  new  build- 
ings were  constructed  along  the  line  of  paths  which 
diverged  from  the  fort  to  other  points  of  interest. 
Thus  Broadway  came  into  existence  as  the  road  lead- 
ing from  the  front  of  the  fort  over  the  ridge  of  the 
island  to  the  common  pasture-lands.  Whitehall 
Street  was  the  shortest  way  to  the  East  River  and 
the  anchorage-ground.  Stone  Street  originated  in 
the  path  which  ran  from  the  fort  down  to  a point  on 
the  East  River,  now  Peck  Slip,  which  was  found  to 
be  the  most  convenient  for  a ferry  to  Long  Island. 
Most  of  the  streets  at  present  in  use  in  the  lower 
part  of  New  York  city  had  a similar  origin.  In 
1657  these  streets  were  already  indicated  with  some 
distinctness  as  thoroughfares,  but  they  abounded  in 
irregularities  of  direction  and  width.  In  this  year 
the  town  below  Wall  Street  was  surveyed  by  Jacques 
Cortelyou,  and  the  streets  definitely  laid  out. 


104  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

In  front  of  the  fort  lay  an  open  space,  now  called 
the  Bowling  Green.  It  was  first  used  as  a parade- 
ground  for  the  garrison.  In  1659  it  became  the 
established  market-place  of  the  town,  and  was  called 
the  Marckvelt.  In  this  use  it  continued  for  many 
years.  In  1732  the  Corporation  resolved  to  “leave 
a piece  of  land,  lying  at  the  lower  end  of  Broadway, 
fronting  the  fort,  to  some  of  the  inhabitants,  in  order 
to  be  enclosed  to  make  a bowling-green  there,  with 
walks  therein,  for  the  beauty  and  ornament  of  said 
street,  as  well  as  for  the  delight  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  city.”  John  Chambers,  Peter  Bayard,  and 
Peter  Jay  were  the  lessees  for  eleven  years,  at  one 
peppercorn  per  annum.  In  Stuyvesant’s  time,  his 
private  secretary  Cornells  van  Ruy\"en  and  Allard 
Anthony  had  houses  facing  the  Marckvelt,  and  Mar- 
tin Cregier  kept  a tavern  there. 

Broadway  was  first  called  Heere  Straat,  — princi- 
pal street ; later,  the  Breede  Weg,  translated  by  the 
English  into  the  Broadway.  It  extended  from  the 
market-place  to  the  Land  Gate  as  a residence  street, 
and  thence  northward  as  a countr)'  road  as  far  as  the 
pastures  on  the  site  of  the  present  City  Hall  Park. 
As  the  business  interests  of  the  Dutch  town  were 
along  the  shore  of  the  East  River,  Broadway  was  ne- 
glected for  many  years.  Lots  there  had  begun  to  be 
granted  by  Kieft  in  1643,  but  they  were  generally  held 
for  speculation.  In  1664  the  condition  of  the  street 
was  about  as  follows  : Leaving  the  fort  and  going  up 
on  the  west  side,  near  the  present  Morris  Street,  we 
find  the  town  cemeter)',  about  one  hundred  feet  front 
and  extending  back  to  the  North  River.  Some  years 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OP  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  105 

later  the  cemetery  was  removed,  and  this  land  was 
sold  in  four  lots.  Next  above  was  the  property  of 
Paulus  Leendertsen  van  der  Grist.  He  had  com- 
manded one  of  the  vessels  which  accompanied 
Stuyvesant  from  Holland,  and  had  become  a magis- 
trate and  a man  of  wealth.  His  house  was  one  of  the 
best  in  the  town,  and  was  built  near  the  river  with  a 
garden  about  it.  Beyond  Van  der  Grist  was  the  house 
lately  occupied  by  the  fiscal  Van  Dyck,  whom 
Stuyvesant  had  expelled  from  the  Council.  Next 
were  two  lots,  each  ninety-three  feet  front  and  run- 
ning back  to  the  river.  The  first  of  these  the 
director  had  allotted  to  his  son  Nicholas  William, 
and  the  second  to  his  other  son  Balthazar.  Beyond 
these  was  the  West  India  Company’s  garden,  after- 
ward granted  to  the  English  Church,  and  now 
Trinity  churchyard.  Turning  at  the  Land  Gate  and 
going  down  Broadway  on  the  east  side,  we  find  a 
number  of  small  houses  occupied  by  mechanics. 
This  side  of  the  street,  sloping  off  to  the  marshy 
lands  near  the  Broad  Street  canal,  was  not  consid- 
ered desirable ; but  it  improved  afterward,  as  the 
water-courses  were  filled  up. 

The  site  of  the  present  Broad  Street  was  occupied 
by  a sort  of  canal,  or  inlet,  from  the  East  River. 
Toward  this  canal  four  streets  ran  eastward  from 
Broadway.  The  first  — now  Wall  Street  — began  at 
the  Land  Gate,  and  extended  to  the  East  River. 
It  was  called  De  Cingel  ofte  Stadt  Waal  (“The 
Walk  by  the  City  Wall”),  and  was  built  upon  at 
this  time  only  on  the  south  side,  facing  the  stockade. 
Boatmen  and  labourers  had  cottages  here. 


I06  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

The  next  street  — now  Exchange  Place  — was  a 
path  called  De  Shaap  Waytie  (“  Sheep  Walk  ”)  run- 
ning down  to  a bridge  across  the  canal.  Beyond 
the  bridge,  the  site  of  Exchange  Place  was  occupied 
by  a stream,  which,  in  common  with  the  upper  part 
of  the  Broad  Street  canal,  was  called  the  Prince 
Graft.  On  the  Graft  lived  Johannes  Hardenbrook, 
Jacob  Kip,  and  Bay  Roosevelt.  Here,  about  1691, 
when  the  stream  was  filled  in  and  the  street  had 
been  named,  — first  Tuyen,  and  then  Garden 
Street,  — was  built  the  Dutch  church,  to  replace 
the  old  one  in  the  fort. 

Near  the  foot  of  Broadway  was  the  Bever  Graft 
(“Beaver  Canal”),  the  site  of  a stream  running 
to  the  Heere  Graft,  or  large  canal,  on  Broad  Street. 
When  this  “ old  ditch  ” was  filled  up,  the  street  was 
built  upon  with  houses  of  an  inferior  character. 
After  crossing  Broad  Street,  the  Bever  Graft  was 
called  Prince  Street,  and  later  Smith  Street  Lane. 
There  lived  Albert  the  Trumpeter. 

From  the  foot  of  Broadway  to  the  East  River  ran 
Beurs  Straat,  or  Whitehall  Street.  On  the  south  side 
lay  the  fort  and  Stuy^^esant’s  official  residence.  On 
the  north  side  lived  Jacob  Teunis  de  Kay,  Cornelis 
Steenwyck,  the  rich  dry-goods  merchant,  and  later 
Jacob  Leisler. 

Four  streets  connected  Whitehall  Street  with  the 
Heere  Graft,  or  Broad  Street  Canal.  The  first  was 
called  T’ Marckvelt  Steegie  (“Market-field  Path”), 
because  it  led  from  a boat-landing  on  the  Heere 
Graft  to  the  open  space  in  front  of  the  fort. 
Here  lived  Claes  van  Elslant,  the  sexton,  and 
some  mechanics. 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  10/ 


The  present  Stone  Street  came  next.  From 
Whitehall  to  Broad  it  was  called  Brouwer  (Brew- 
er) Straat,  on  account  of  Oloff  Stevensen  van 
Courtlandt’s  brewery  situated  there.  Besides  Van 
Courtlandt,  the  inhabitants  were  Jeroninus  Ebbingh, 
Isaac  de  Forest  and  his  wife  Sara  Philipse,  and 
Isaac  Kip.  Beyond  the  Heere  Graft,  Brouwer 
Straat  became  Hoogh  (or  High)  Straat,  on  account 
of  its  elevation  above  the  East  River.  Hoogh 
Straat  extended  to  the  city  wall,  parallel  to  the 
Water  Side.  It  was  the  favourite  situation  for  dwell- 
ings in  Stuyvesant’s  time,  being  sufficiently  near  the 
river  for  convenience,  and  yet  safe  from  high  tides ; 
it  was  also  the  principal  thoroughfare  for  all  persons 
entering  the  town  by  the  Water  Gate.  Here  lived 
Govert  Loockermans,  Johannes  van  Bruggh,  Abra- 
ham de  Peyster,  Abiggel  Verplanck,  Jacob  and 
Johannes  van  Couwenhoven,  Nicholas  de  Meyert 
and  his  wife  Lydia  van  Dyck,  Nicholas  Bayard  and 
his  wife  Judith  Verlett,  Evert  Duyckinck  and  his 
wife  Hendrickje  Simons,  and  two  Englishmen,  — 
Isaac  Bedlow  and  John  Lawrence.  Brouwer  Straat 
and  its  continuation  — Hoogh  Straat  — were  the 
first  to  be  paved ; which  was  done  with  cobble- 
stones in  1657,  under  the  superintendence  of  Isaac 
de  Forest  and  Jeroninus  Ebbingh.  Hence  was  de- 
rived the  present  name  of  Stone  Street. 

De  Brugh  (or  Bridge)  Straat  was  the  next,  con- 
necting Whitehall  with  Broad.  It  took  its  name 
from  the  large  bridge  over  the  canal  which  lay  at  its 
foot.  Hendrick  Hendricksen  Kip  — the  ancestor 
of  the  Kip  family  — lived  here. 


io8 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


Continuing  down  Whitehall,  past  Bridge,  we  come 
to  Pearl  Street,  which  formed  the  eastern  boundary 
of  the  fort.  It  had  this  name  only  south  of  White- 
hall Street.  There  lived  Pieter  Wolfertsen  van 
Couwenhoven,  Jacques  Cousseau,  Gerrit  van  Tricht, 
and  Dr.  Hans  Kierstede. 

North  of  Whitehall  Street,  on  the  present  line  of 
Pearl,  there  was  not,  during  Stuyvesant’s  govern- 
ment, any  street  regularly  built  upon.  The  locality 
was  called  the  Water  Side,  and  was  simply  the 
shore  of  the  East  River.  The  present  Water,  South, 
and  Front  streets  were  then  covered  by  the  tide. 
The  present  Pearl  Street  came  into  existence  gradu- 
ally. In  1642  Director  Kieft  built  the  stone  tavern, 
called  the  Harberg,  down  on  the  shore  of  the  river, 
where  it  could  be  seen  from  the  anchorage-ground, 
and  there  it  stood  alone  for  some  years.  In  1654, 
when  the  municipal  government  was  organized, 
this  building  was  granted  to  the  municipality  as 
a town  hall,  and  called  the  Stadt  Huys.  Its  situ- 
ation was  that  of  the  present  Nos.  71  and  73  Pearl 
Street,  facing  Coenties  Slip.  High  tides  rose  close 
to  the  building,  and  to  prevent  such  encroachments 
a stone  wall  was  built  out  in  front  of  the  Stadt 
Huys  to  keep  off  the  water.  This  wall  protected 
the  building  but  not  the  rest  of  the  shore,  which 
often  became  impassable  by  the  washing  of  the  tide. 
On  this  account  a barrier  against  the  water  was 
built  along  the  shore,  on  a line  with  the  wall  in 
front  of  the  Stadt  Huys.  It  was  called  the  Schoey- 
inge,  and  consisted  of  planks  driven  endwise  into  the 
mud,  the  space  behind  them  being  filled  in.  The 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTEPDAM.  lOg 

work  went  on  from  1654  to  1656,  by  which  year 
it  extended  from  Broad  to  Wall  streets.  Owners  of 
lots  fronting  on  the  Water  Side  were  compelled  to 
bear  part  of  the  cost.  When  the  Schoeyinge  was 
completed  it  made  a dry  walk  along  the  shore,  and 
then  houses  were  built  on  the  line  of  the  Stadt 
Huys  and  fronting  on  the  East  River.  This  street 
was  called  from  the  tide-barrier  De  Waal,  and  also 
Lang  de  Waal,  and  is  sometimes  confounded  with 
the  present  Wall  Street.  The  first  people  to  build 
on  De  Waal  were  Balthazar  de  Haart,  Carel  van 
Brugh,  Cornells  Jansen  van  Hoorn,  and  Dirck 
van  Clyff.  At  a later  period  the  street  became 
populous. 

On  the  shore  of  the  East  River,  east  of  Pearl  and 
south  of  Whitehall,  was  a small  street  of  one  block, 
called  T’ Water.  When  the  flats  along  the  river- 
front were  filled  in,  the  continuation  of  this  block 
formed  the  present  Water  Street.  Two  short  lanes, 
called  De  Winckel  and  Achter  de  Perel,  near  the 
fort,  were  closed  up  at  an  early  period. 

Extending  nearly  parallel  to  Whitehall  Street  and 
Broadway,  from  the  East  River  to  Wall  Street,  on 
the  site  of  the  present  Broad  Street,  was  De  Heere 
Graft,  or  principal  canal,  — an  important  feature  of 
the  town.  The  Graft  was  an  inlet  of  the  East 
River,  of  which  the  waters  rose  and  fell  with  the 
tide  as  far  as  Exchange  Place.  It  was  crossed  by 
a large  bridge  near  its  mouth,  at  Bridge  and  Stone 
streets,  and  farther  up  by  smaller  foot-bridges. 
The  Graft  was  the  chief  centre  of  trade.  Near  its 
outlet  were  the  stores  of  the  West  India  Company ; 


I lO 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


opposite  was  the  anchorage-ground,  where  vessels 
were  complied  to  unload.  Boats  laden  with  mer- 
chandise went  into  the  Graft  to  discharge  their 
cargoes.  The  Long  Island  farmers  brought  their 
produce  there,  selling  from  boats  drawn  up  on  the 
bank.  Indians  paddled  up  in  canoes  with  skins  to 
barter.  Wooden  sidings  to  protect  the  banks,  like 
those  on  the  East  River,  were  constructed  in  1657, 
and  until  1659  two  men  were  kept  constantly  at 
work  upon  them.  Throwing  refuse  into  the  Graft 
was  prohibited  by  the  burgomasters.  In  1659  Re- 
solvert  Waldron  was  made  “ Graft  officer,”  with  in- 
structions to  keep  the  sidings  in  repair,  to  prevent 
nuisances,  and  to  see  that  “ boats,  canoes,  and  other 
vessels  which  came  into  it  were  laid  in  order.” 
The  vicinity  of  the  bridge  which  crossed  the  Graft 
at  Stone  Street  was  the  most  populous  portion  of 
the  town,  and  the  bridge  itself  was  a generally  re- 
cognized place  of  meeting  for  the  transaction  of 
business.  In  1670  the  merchants  met  there  ever}' 
Friday  morning,  forming  the  first  established  Ex- 
change in  the  city. 

In  1660  a petition  was  presented  to  the  “Re- 
spected Lords,  the  Burgomasters  and  Schepens  of 
Amsterdam  in  New  Netherland,”  to  have  a pave- 
ment laid  on  the  walks  along  the  banks  of  the  Graft. 
Among  the  petitioners  were  Oloff  Stevensen  van 
Courtlandt,  Johannes  van  Bruggh,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and 
Hendrick  Kip,  Isaac  de  Forest,  and  Maria  Geraerd. 
The  petition  was  granted  ; the  street  was  surr-eyed, 
and  the  assessments  apportioned  by  Jacques  Cor- 
telyou,  town  surveyor.  After  the  paving,  the  Heere 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OP  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  Ill 


Graft  was  used  much  more  for  dwellings,  and  prop- 
erty rose  greatly  in  value.  In  1676  the  primitive 
conditions  of  commerce,  which  made  the  water- 
course useful,  no  longer  existed ; the  Heere  Graft 
was  filled  in,  and  became  Broad  Street.  Persons 
owning  lots  there,  besides  the  petitioners  mentioned 
above,  were  Nicholas  Delaplaine,  Abel  and  Johan- 
nes Hardenbrook,  Johannes  de  Peyster,  Cornelius 
de  Silla,  Conraet  Ten  Eyck,  Guilian  Cornelis, 
Joghem  Beeckman,  Adriaen  Vincent,  Jacob  van 
Couwenhoven,  Cornelis  Melyn,  Brandt  Schuyler  and 
his  wife  Cornelia  van  Courtlandt,  Jan  de  la  Mon- 
tagne  and  his  wife  Annetje  Waldron,  Wilhelm  Bo- 
gardus,  and  Jan  Vincent. 

The  site  of  William  Street,  south  of  Wall  Street, 
and  the  south  side  of  Hanover  Square  were  on  land 
granted  to  Borger  Joris,  who  kept  a blacksmith  shop 
there.  William  Street  and  Old  Slip  were  then  called 
Borger  Joris’s  Path,  and  later  Burgher’s  Path.  The 
name  was  afterward  Smee  Straat,  and  under  the 
English  became  Smith  Street.  Abel  Hardenbrook 
and  John  Ray  lived  there. 

Such  were  the  streets  of  New  Amsterdam  in  the 
last  years  of  Dutch  supremacy.  The  town  was  in- 
cluded in  the  space  bounded  on  the  south  by  the 
fort  and  Whitehall  Street,  on  the  west  by  Broadway, 
on  the  north  by  Wall  Street,  and  on  the  east  by 
Pearl  Street.  It  was  intersected  near  the  middle 
by  the  waterway  on  Broad  Street.  The  large  major- 
ity of  the  people  lived  near  the  fort  and  the  East 
River.  Two  or  three  streets  only  had  been  roughly 
paved  with  cobble-stones ; the  others  were  muddy 


1 12 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


and  uneven.  The  only  drainage  was  a gutter  in  the 
middle  of  the  street.  Trees  abounded  both  in  the 
streets  and  in  the  gardens  about  the  houses.  The 
houses  were  set  irregularly,  and  generally  surrounded 
by  fences  to  keep  out  wandering  hogs  and  cows. 
There  was  no  attempt  made  to  light  the  streets  at 
night  during  the  Dutch  period.  At  first,  horses, 
cows,  goats,  and  hogs  were  allowed  to  run  free  in 
the  streets  and  unenclosed  grounds ; as  the  town 
improved,  regulations  on  this  subject  were  made  : 
“ On  account  of  damage  to  roads  by  rooting  of 
hogs,  all  inhabitants  are  ordered  to  stick  a ring 
through  the  noses  of  their  animals.”  Later  : “ On 
account  of  damage  to  orchards  and  plantations  by 
hogs  and  goats,  these  animals  are  ordered  to  be 
kept  within  enclosures.”  In  1650  the  fort  having 
been  injured  and  trodden  down  by  animals,  Stuy- 
vesant  ordered  that  none  should  be  allowed  at  large 
within  the  city.  As  nearly  every  house  had  its  cow, 
which  had  to  go  daily  to  the  common  pastures,  it 
was  found  convenient  to  have  a town  herdsman. 
One  Gabriel  Carpsey  was  chosen ; and  for  many 
years  he  went  each  morning  from  house  to  house, 
collected  the  cattle,  and  drove  them  along  the 
Heere  Weg  to  the  commons.  At  night  he  drove 
them  back ; and,  as  each  cow  stopped  before  its 
familiar  gate,  he  sounded  a horn  to  announce  the 
arrival. 

Above  the  stockade  at  Wall  Street,  we  find  our- 
selves in  the  country.  Broadway,  within  the  stock- 
ade called  the  Breede  Weg,  now  becomes  the  Heere 
Weg.  It  extended  from  the  Land  Gate  north  as  far 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  II3 

as  the  City  Hall  Park,  then  the  common  pastures 
called  De  Vlacke,  or  Flat.  Thence  it  took  a north- 
easterly course  on  the  line  of  Park  Row,  Chatham 
Street,  and  the  Bowery,  as  far  as  New  Haarlem,  to 
which  village  it  was  extended  in  1669. 

The  land  lying  between  the  stockade  and  Maiden 
Lane,  from  river  to  river,  was  granted  by  Director 
Kieft  in  1644  to  Jan  Jansen  Damen,  and  was  oc- 
cupied by  him  as  a farm.  He  had  married  .'Vdriana 
Cuvilje,  widow  of  Guleyn  Vinje.  He  left  no  chil- 
dren ; but  his  wife  had  four  by  her  first  husband, 
who  inherited  and  lived  upon  this  property.  They 
were  John  Vinje  the  son,  and  three  daughters,  — 
Maria,  wife  of  Abraham  Verplanck ; Rachel,  wife  of 
Cornelis  van  Tienhoven;  Christina,  wife  of  Dirck 
Volkertsen. 

On  the  west  side  of  Broadway,  next  above  the 
Damen  farm,  was  a farm  belonging  to  the  West 
India  Company  ; its  boundaries  were  about  the  pres- 
ent Fulton  and  Chambers  streets  and  the  North 
River.  On  the  capture  of  the  town  by  the  English, 
this  land  was  confiscated  and  called  the  King’s  farm  ; 
it  was  afterward  given  to  the  English  Church. 

North  of  the  King’s  farm  lay  a tract  of  about 
sixty-two  acres.  Its  boundary  line  began  at  a point 
between  Warren  and  Chambers  streets,  ran  along 
the  site  of  Broadway  about  as  far  as  Duane  Street, 
thence  northwesterly  to  the  Hudson  River.  This 
tract  was  known  as  the  Domine’s  bowery.  At  a 
very  early  period  in  the  settlement  it  was  granted 
by  Director  Van  Twiller  to  Roeloff  Jansen,  a super- 
intendent at  Rensselaerwyck  who  had  removed 
8 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


II4 

thence  to  New  Amsterdam.  Jansen  married  a wo- 
man named  Annetje,  or  Annie,  who  as  Annetje 
Jans  attained  a curious  fame.  On  the  death  of 
Jansen  she  inherited  the  farm,  and  married  Domine 
Everardus  Bogardus.  By  each  husband  she  had 
four  children.  After  the  death  of  Bogardus  in  the 
wreck  of  the  “ Princess,”  she  went  to  live  in  Albany, 
and  died  there  in  1663,  leaving  a will  executed  in 
January  of  the  same  year.  The  will  provided  that 
all  her  property  should  be  divided  equally  among 
her  eight  children, — the  four  children  of  Jansen, 
however,  to  be  first  paid  one  thousand  guilders,  out 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  farm  which  Annetje  had  re- 
ceived from  their  father.  The  widow’s  title  to  the 
land  had  been  confirmed  by  Stuyvesant  in  1654,  and 
was  confirmed  again  in  1667  by  Nichols,  the  first 
English  governor.  In  1670,  Governor  Lovelace 
bought  the  Domine’s  farm,  but  only  a majority  of 
the  heirs  signed  the  deed.  Lovelace  getting  into 
debt,  the  property  was  confiscated  by  his  successor. 
Governor  Andros,  and  called  the  Duke’s  farm  after 
the  Duke  of  York.  It  was  afterward  considered  to 
belong  to  the  English  Cro\vn,  and  was  granted  by 
Queen  Anne  to  Trinity  Church.  This  land  had 
rented  for  many  years  for  a few  hogs  per  annum  ; 
when  Governor  Lovelace  purchased  it,  he  had  not 
thought  it  worth  while  to  get  a perfect  title.  But  as 
the  town  grew  and  values  rose,  the  heirs  of  Annetje 
Jans  began  to  cast  longing  eyes  upon  the  great 
patrimony  which  had  been  sold  for  a mess  of  pot- 
tage. The  heirs  of  those  of  Annetje’s  children  who 
had  not  signed  the  deed  claimed  that  Queen  Anne 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  II5 


had  no  right  to  convey  their  share  in  the  property. 
The  first  suit  to  recover  possession  was  brought  by 
Cornelius  Brower  in  1750,  and  unsuccessful  litiga- 
tion since  that  time  has  kept  alive  the  name  of 
Annetje  Jans  and  her  Domine’s  bowery. 

To  return  to  Broadway.  Only  one  street  ex- 
tended eastward  connecting  Broadway  with  the 
East  River.  This  was  a path  called  T’Maagde 
Paatje,  now  Maiden  Lane,  which  formed  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  the  Damen  farm.  Maiden  Lane 
was  the  first  side-street  above  Wall  to  be  built  upon ; 
but  although  the  Damen  heirs  sold  some  lots  here 
about  1660,  it  was  many  years  before  the  Maiden’s 
Path  lost  its  rural  beauties.  In  1679  there  was  an 
orchard  between  the  present  Cedar  Street  and 
Maiden  Lane.  One  day  a bear  was  found  among 
the  trees  feeding  upon  the  fruit,  and  the  neigh- 
bours had  an  exciting  time  chasing  him  with  clubs 
from  tree  to  tree. 

On  the  east  side  of  Broadway  above  the  Damen 
farm  was  the  property  of  Wilhelm  Beeckman.  In 
1656  Beeckman  applied  to  the  burgomasters  and 
schepens,  stating  that  certain  persons  claimed  a right 
of  way  across  his  land,  and  requested  that  they  be 
ordered  to  show  their  right.  The  alleged  trespassers 
proved  that  there  had  long  been  a path  through 
Beeckman’s  by  which  they  drove  their  cattle  to  the 
common.  This  was  the  beginning  of  Beekman 
Street,  but  it  was  not  laid  out  and  paved  until  1750. 

There  were  no  streets  parallel  to  Broadway  be- 
tween it  and  the  East  River.  Nassau  Street  was 
not  begun  until  1692.  In  that  year  we  find  a “pe- 


Il6  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

tition  of  Teunis  de  Kay,  that  a carte-way  may  be 
made  leading  out  of  the  Broad  Street  to  the  street 
that  runs  by  the  Pye-woman’s  leading  to  the  com- 
mon of  this  city ; that  the  petitioner  will  undertake 
to  do  the  same  providing  he  may  have  the  soyle.” 
This  road  was  called  Kip  Street  in  1732.  The 
Middle  Dutch  church  was  erected  upon  it,  which  in 
our  own  time  was  used  as  a temporary  post-office, 
and  then  torn  down  to  make  way  for  the  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Building. 

Another  road  extended  out  of  the  town  along  the 
shore  of  the  East  River  from  the  Water  Gate  to  the 
Long  Island  Ferry.  It  was  a continuation  of  Stone 
Street,  and  was  called  De  Smit’s  Valey.  At  the  cor- 
ner of  this  road  and  Maiden  Lane  a blacksmith 
called  Cornelius  Clopper  had  set  up  his  forge  to  get 
the  custom  of  visitors  from  Long  Island,  and  his 
occupation  gave  the  name  to  the  road.  For  many 
years  the  street  connecting  Wall  Street  with  Franklin 
Square  continued  to  bear  the  name,  although  modi- 
fied with  time  to  Valey,  Vly,  and  Fly.  As  it  was 
directly  on  the  shore,  houses  were  built  only  on  its 
west  side,  overlooking  the  river.  Pearl  Street  now 
occupies  its  site. 

Just  outside  the  Water  Gate,  August)Ti  Heermans 
had  a good  house,  with  an  orchard  and  garden  ex- 
tending back  over  the  present  line  of  Pine  Street. 
Heermans  made  a drawing  of  the  town  as  it  appeared 
from  the  East  River  in  1656,  which  remains  our  best 
guide  as  to  the  appearance  of  New  Amsterdam. 
Beyond  his  house,  on  the  Smith’s  Valey,  we  find 
some  of  the  Damen  heirs,  — John  Vinje,  and  Abra- 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  I17 


ham  Verplanck  with  his  sons  Isaac  and  Guleyn. 
North  of  them  lived  Thomas  Hall,  an  Englishman 
prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  On  his  death, 
the  widow  sold  the  property  to  Wilhelm  Beeckman. 
That  part  of  it  called  Beekman’s  swamp  afterward 
belonged  to  Jacob  Leisler,  and  was  confiscated 
on  his  attainder.  In  1732  Jacobus  Roosevelt 
bought  it  for  j^200,  and  sold  it  off  in  lots.  It 
is  still  known  as  the  Swamp,  and  is  the  site  of  the 
leather  trade.  The  tanners  had  first  established 
their  pits  in  the  swampy  places  on  Broad  Street ; 
thence  they  had  moved  to  Maiden  Lane  and  the 
shores  of  the  Fresh  Pond ; they  finally  moved  to 
Beekman’s  swamp,  where  the  leather  business  has 
since  remained. 

The  ferry-landing  was  at  Peck  Slip.  There  one 
Cornelis  Dircksen  had  settled  before  1642,  and 
added  to  his  earnings  by  ferrying  to  the  Long  Is- 
land shore.  As  the  number  of  travellers  increased, 
the  municipality  assumed  control  of  the  ferry,  and 
in  1654  regulated  its  use.  Dircksen  was  given  a 
monopoly  of  the  business,  but  was  compelled  to 
conduct  it  systematically.  He  was  allowed  double 
fares  at  night,  and  might  refuse  passage  during  a 
storm.  His  wife  furnished  refreshments  and  beer 
to  travellers,  and  Dircksen’s  became  an  important 
place. 

North  of  the  common  lands,  and  on  the  site  of 
the  Tombs  prison,  was  a pond  called  the  Kolch- 
hock.  The  name  signified  “Shell  Point,”  and  was 
derived  from  a deposit  of  shells  on  a point  on  the 
westerly  side  of  the  pond.  This  name  was  abbre- 


Il8  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

viated  into  Collck,  and  changed  by  the  English 
to  Collect.  A stream  ran  from  the  pond  to  the 
East  River,  near  the  line  of  Roosevelt  Street, 
and  was  called  by  the  Dutch  the  Versch  (fresh) 
Water;  the  land  north  of  it  was  called  Overyet 
(beyond)  Versch  Water.  The  pond  itself  was 
afterward  called  the  Fresh  Water  by  the  English. 
It  long  remained  the  favourite  fishing-ground  for 
boys;  and  even  as  late  as  1734  a town  law  was 
passed  to  prevent  netting,  or  the  taking  of  fish  in 
any  manner  other  than  angling.  Fifty  years  after 
the  capture  of  the  town  by  the  English,  land  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  pond  sold  for  twenty-five  dollars 
per  acre. 

Another  outlet  of  the  pond  flowed  in  a north- 
westerly direction,  into  the  large  creek  which  occu- 
pied the  site  of  Canal  Street,  and  mingled  its  waters 
with  those  of  the  Hudson  River.  The  creek  was 
navigable  for  small  boats.  The  shores  of  the  pond 
were  a constant  camping-ground  for  Indians ; they 
paddled  their  canoes  from  the  Hudson  up  the 
creek,  and  nearly  to  the  pond  itself.  The  creek 
and  the  marshy  lands  about  it  formed  a serious 
obstacle  to  travel,  so  that  the  road  northward  to 
Haarlem  kept  along  the  east  side  of  the  island.  It 
crossed  the  fresh-water  stream  by  a bridge  known 
aftenvard  as  the  Kissing  Bridge.  A few  labourers 
and  negroes  had  houses  near  the  creek,  and  they 
were  described  as  living  “ Aen  de  Groote  Kill,” 
which  was  the  first  name  for  Canal  Street.  The 
low  lands  in  the  vicinity  were  called  Lispenard’s 
Meadows. 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OP  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  1 19 


As  the  dread  of  Indian  hostility  passed  away, 
farms  were  gradually  established  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  island.  In  Stuyvesant’s  time  there  were  five 
boweries  between  the  common-lands  and  his  house, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Fourth  Avenue  and  Twelfth 
Street ; but  the  greater  portion  of  the  land  was 
densely  wooded.  A small  hamlet,  containing  a few 
houses  and  farms,  called  Sapokanican,  was  the  be- 
ginning of  Greenwich,  now  comprising  most  of  the 
eighth  and  ninth  wards  of  the  city.  New  Haarlem 
was  in  its  infancy,  and  growing. 

On  Stuyvesant’s  arrival  at  New  Amsterdam  in 
1647  found  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  houses 
and  seven  hundred  people,  but  not  more  than  one 
hundred  permanent  citizens  capable  of  bearing  arms. 
In  1664,  when  his  directorship  terminated,  there 
were  two  hundred  and  twenty  houses  and  a popula- 
tion of  fourteen  hundred.  The  inhabitants  of  Rens- 
selaerwyck  and  the  other  Dutch  towns  had  increased 
in  the  same  proportion.  Ten  years  later  there  were 
three  thousand  people  on  Manhattan  Island.  At  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  population  had 
increased  to  four  thousand  four  hundred,  and  the 
commerce  of  the  port  had  become  so  considerable 
that  forty  square-rigged  vessels  and  sixty-two  sloops 
were  entered  at  one  time  at  the  custom-house. 
Another  century  passed  before  the  population  of 
New  York  reached  sixty  thousand. 

When  Stuyvesant  had  restored  order  in  the  col- 
ony, and  particularly  after  the  establishment  of  mu- 
nicipal government,  the  emigration  from  Holland 
increased  considerably,  and  was  of  a good  character. 


120 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


Some  of  the  laws  made  in  1656  by  the  West  India 
Company  for  the  government  of  its  emigrant-ships 
may  be  cited  as  illustrative  of  the  times  : — 

“No  man  shall  raise  or  bring  forward  any  ques- 
tion or  argument  on  the  subject  of  religion,  on  pain 
of  being  placed  on  bread  and  water  three  days 
in  the  ship’s  galley ; and  if  any  difficulty  should 
arise  out  of  the  said  disputes,  the  author  thereof 
shall  be  arbitrarily  punished. 

“ If  any  one  quarrel  or  strike  with  the  fist,  he 
shall  be  placed  three  days  in  irons  on  bread  and 
water ; and  whoever  draws  a knife  in  anger,  or  to 
wound,  or  to  do  any  person  bodily  injury,  he  shall 
be  nailed  to  the  mast  with  a knife  through  his  hand, 
and  there  remain  until  he  draws  it  through ; and  if 
he  wound  any  one,  he  shall  be  keel-hauled,  forfeit- 
ing besides  six  months’  pay.  If  any  person  kill  an- 
other, he  shall,  while  living,  be  thrown  overboard 
with  the  corpse,  and  forfeit  all  his  monthly  wages 
and  booty.” 

The  desire  to  possess  lands  of  their  own  was  the 
chief  attraction  to  emigrants  ; and  the  West  India 
Company,  after  the  fur- trade  became  unprofitable, 
could  gain  only  through  the  sale  of  its  territory,  and 
thus  encouraged  emigration  as  much  as  possible. 
The  new-comers  spread  over  Long  Island,  northern 
New  Jersey,  and  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  River  as 
far  as  Rensselaerwyck. 

In  1655,  the  burgomasters  Allard  Anthony  and 
O.  S.  van  Courtlandt  requested  the  director  and 
Council  to  establish  some  S3"stem  for  the  allotment 
of  land  within  the  city  to  emigrants  wishing  to  settle 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  12 1 


there.  Stuyvesant  directed  the  road-masters,  to- 
gether with  councillor  La  Montagne  and  burgomas- 
ter Anthony,  to  divide  the  spare  land  into  lots,  and 
to  sell  them  at  reasonable  prices  to  persons  wish- 
ing to  build.  These  commissioners  held  regular 
sessions,  at  which  they  adjusted  conflicting  claims, 
ordered  repairs  and  improvements,  sold  and  gave 
away  lots.  The  following  examples  will  illustrate 
their  procedure  : — 

“Jan  Videt  asks  permission  to  build  on  the  ground 
heretofore  given  to  Daniel  Teneur,  which  has  not 
been  built  upon.  Answer.  Jan’s  application  is  re- 
fused, because  on  the  ground  asked  for  a corner 
house  should  be  built,  and  he  wishes  to  build  little 
houses  thereon. 

“ Albert  Jansen  requests  that,  inasmuch  as  he  is 
ready  to  build  a house,  a piece  of  ground  may  be 
given  him,  which  is  acceded  to,  and  he  may  have 
the  ground  next  to  that  of  Jannette  Boon.” 

Until  1653,  the  government  of  the  colony  was  con- 
ducted arbitrarily  by  the  director  and  his  Council, 
who  acted  with  the  authority  of  the  States-General 
of  Holland,  but  more  particularly  as  the  servants  of 
the  West  India  Company.  The  director’s  commands 
were  announced  by  proclamations.  In  1648  Stuyve- 
sant thus  ordained  a proper  observance  of  Sunday  : 
“ Whereas  the  Sabbath  in  various  ways  has  been  pro- 
faned and  desecrated,  to  the  great  scandal,  offence, 
and  reproach  of  the  community ; . . . Therefore 
the  director-general  and  Council  for  the  purpose 
of  averting  as  much  as  lies  in  their  power  the 
dreaded  wrath  and  punishment  of  God,  through 


122 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


this  sin  and  other  misdemeanours,  . . . ordain  that 
from  this  time  forth,  in  the  afternoon  as  well  as  in 
the  forenoon,  there  shall  be  preaching  from  God’s 
Word.”  All  the  Company’s  servants  were  ordered 
to  attend  the  services,  and  “ tapping  ” during  the 
day  was  forbidden.  Similar  proclamations  were  is- 
sued against  brawling,  drunkenness,  and  other  mis- 
demeanours as  circumstances  called  for  them. 

At  first,  the  only  courts  of  justice  in  New  Nether- 
land  were  those  held  by  the  patroon’s  agent  at 
Rensselaerwyck  and  by  the  director  at  New  Am- 
sterdam. Town  courts  were  established  on  Long 
Island  at  Heempstede  in  1644,  at  Gravesend  in 
1645,  and  at  Breukelen  in  1646.  Stujwesant  and 
his  Council  at  first  undertook  to  hear  all  lawsuits 
arising  in  New  Amsterdam  at  their  own  court.  But 
the  amount  of  business  soon  became  embarrassing. 
Many  suits  of  trifling  importance  were  brought. 
The  attention  of  the  director  and  Council  was  drawn 
by  them  from  more  important  matters,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  delays  were  becoming  vexatious  to 
litigants.  Hence,  in  1647,  'vhen  Stujwesant  found 
it  necessary  to  attract  popular  support  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  Nine  Men,  he  placed  upon  their 
shoulders  the  duty  of  hearing  the  cases  of  lesser 
moment.  Three  of  the  Nine  sat  in  rotation  as  a 
court  of  arbitrators,  their  decisions  subject  to  appeal 
to  the  director’s  Council.  The  pressure  was  some- 
what relieved  by  this  means,  but  dissatisfaction  with 
the  administration  of  justice  continued  to  prevail. 
Stuyvesant  was  far  from  being  fitted  for  a judicial 
position ; his  temper  carried  him  away ; his  preju- 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  123 


dices  caused  him  to  adopt  one  side  or  the  other 
impetuously  before  he  had  heard  the  whole  case. 
In  court  he  browbeat  one  side  or  the  other,  and 
when  resisted  he  “ made  a to-do  that  was  dreadful.” 
This  continued  to  the  distress  of  the  colony  until 
Van  der  Donck  and  his  companions  obtained  their 
reforms  in  Holland,  and  a government  by  burgo- 
masters and  schepens  was  established  in  New  Am- 
sterdam in  1654.  Henceforth  Stuyvesant  governed 
New  Netherland  for  the  West  India  Company,  but 
New  Amsterdam  became  a free  Dutch  town.  The 
administration  of  justice  as  well  as  the  regulation  of 
the  municipality  was  conducted  by  the  burgomasters 
and  schepens  during  the  remainder  of  the  Dutch 
possession.  In  1655,  a separate  “ Orphan’s  Court” 
was  established  for  surrogate  cases. 

The  scene  of  the  meetings  of  the  burgomasters 
and  schepens  was  the  two- story  stone  building 
erected  by  director  Kieft  in  1642  as  a tavern,  then 
called  the  Harberg,  and  under  the  management  of 
the  inn-keeper,  Philip  Gerritsen,  who  there  retailed 
the  Company’s  wines.  Stuyvesant  gave  the  building 
to  the  municipal  government  in  1654,  to  be  used  as  a 
town  hall,  after  which  it  was  called  the  Stadt  Huys. 
It  stood  on  Pearl  Street,  opposite  Coenties  Slip,  at 
high-water  mark,  overlooking  the  East  River.  Be- 
fore it  was  the  walk  along  the  Schoeyinge,  called 
De  Waal,  or  Lang  t’Wall ; behind  it  was  a garden 
fronting  on  Hoogh  (or  Stone)  Street.  In  the  tav- 
ern days  this  space  was  used  for  growing  vegetables  ; 
but  after  the  building  became  the  town  hall,  the  bur- 
gomasters’ secretary  was  allowed  to  raise  a crop  of 


124 


PETER  STUYVESANT 


grain  in  the  garden  for  his  own  use.  In  1659, 
Evert  Duyckinck  engraved  the  city  arms  on  a 
window-pane  in  the  council-chamber,  where  for  forty 
years  it  was  pointed  out  with  pride.  On  the  roof 
was  a cupola,  where  in  1656  was  placed  a bell,  rung 
for  the  assemblage  of  the  magistrates  and  on  the 
publication  of  proclamations,  which  was  done  from 
the  front  steps.  Jan  Gillisen,  nicknamed  “ Koeck,” 
held  the  office  of  bell-ringer  for  many  years.  The 
Stadt  Huys  contained  a council-chamber,  town  offi- 
ces, and  a prison.  In  1697  the  building  had  become 
so  old  and  insecure  that  the  judges  refused  to  hold 
court  in  it.  A new  town  hall  was  built  in  Wall 
Street,  opposite  Broad ; and  the  old  Stadt  Huys, 
with  its  garden,  was  sold  at  auction  for  ;£g20  to 
John  Rodman,  a merchant. 

The  town  magistrates  were  eight  in  number,  — a 
sellout  or  sheriff,  two  burgomasters,  and  five  sche- 
pens.  When  the  States- General  granted  municipal 
government  to  New  Amsterdam,  they  intended  these 
offices  to  be  elective.  But  Stuyvesant,  as  we  have 
seen,  ignored  their  intention,  and  appointed  the  first 
set  himself.  Half  of  the  officers  retired  each  year, 
and  their  places  were  filled  according  to  the  follow- 
ing method  : The  schout,  on  behalf  of  the  director’s 
Council,  appeared  at  the  meeting  and  requested  the 
burgomasters  and  schepens  to  nominate  a list  of 
men  of  “ goed  naem  and  faem  staen  ” (of  good 
name  and  standing),  from  which  the  director  and 
his  Council  should  choose  magistrates  for  the  ne.xt 
year.  Each  burgomaster  and  schepen  made  out  a 
separate  list ; they  were  compared,  and  the  per- 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  125 

sons  receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes  were 
declared  in  nomination.  From  these  Stuyvesant 
then  made  his  choice. 

Among  the  magistrates  who  held  office  during 
Stuyvesant’s  time  may  be  mentioned  the  following  : 
Schouts  — Cornelis  van  Tienhoven,  Nicasiusde  Sille, 
Pieter  Tonneman,  Allard  Anthony.  Burgomasters  — 
Arent  van  Hatten,  Martin  Cregier,  Allard  Anthony, 
Oloff  Stevensen  van  Courtlandt,  Paulus  Leendertsen 
van  der  Grist,  Cornelis  Sf^enwyck.  Schepens  — 
Wilhelm  Beeckman,  Pieter  Wolfertsen  van  Couwen- 
hoven,  Johannes  de  Peyster,  Jacob  Strycker,  Johan- 
nes van  Bruggh,  Hendrick  Kip,  Govert  Loockermans, 
Adriaen  Blommaert,  Hendrick  Jansen  Vandervin, 
Isaac  de  Forest,  Jacob  Kip,  Jeroninus  Ebbingh. 

The  magistrates  were  treated  by  the  people  with 
much  respect,  and  were  generally  addressed  as 
“ Most  worshipful  lords.”  But  they  seemed  to  have 
no  confirmed  official  titles ; and  when  Stuyvesant 
addressed  them,  he  adopted  a form  which  suited 
the  importance  of  the  communication  or  his  own 
momentary  humour.  Thus,  in  announcing  to  the 
magistrates  a Fast  Day,  he  directed  his  letter  to 
“ The  Most  Worshipful,  Most  Prudent,  and  very 
Discreet,  their  High  Mightinesses,  the  Burgomasters 
and  Schepens  of  Nieuw  Amsterdam.”  When  he 
had  occasion  to  request  them  to  adopt  regulations 
to  keep  pigs  out  of  the  fort,  he  addressed  them  as 
“ Respected  and  particularly  dear  friends.”  But 
when  a quarrel  had  arisen  between  the  director 
and  the  municipal  authorities  on  the  subject  of  the 
propriety  of  a game  called  “Riding  the  Goose,” 


126 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


Stuyvesant  addressed  his  angry  reproofs  to  “The 
Small  Bench  of  Justices.” 

In  1654  the  salary  of  the  burgomasters  was 
fixed  at  about  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars,  and 
that  of  the  schepens  at  one  hundred  dollars.  But 
the  salaries  were  to  be  paid  out  of  the  municipal 
“ chest,”  which  was  always  empty.  The  magistrates 
grumbled  occasionally,  and  hoped  for  better  times 
when  the  arrears  might  be  collected.  But  those 
times  never  came,  and  they  were  obliged  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  dignity  of  office,  with  the  title  of 
“ worshipful  lord,”  and  the  separate  pew  in  church, 
w'here  they  sat  in  state  on  cushions  brought  over 
from  the  Stadt  Huys  by  the  sexton. 

The  schout’s  duties  combined  in  a primitive 
fashion  those  of  a sheriff  and  district  attorney. 
He  prosecuted  offenders,  executed  judgments,  and 
supervised  the  order  of  the  towm.  Nicasius  de 
Sille  used  to  complain  that  when  he  made  his 
rounds  after  dark,  the  boys  would  annoy  him  by 
shouting  “ Indians  ! ” from  behind  the  fences  and 
raising  false  alarms. 

The  duties  of  the  burgomasters  and  schepens 
were  of  two  kinds.  They  regulated  the  affairs  of 
the  town  like  a board  of  aldermen,  and  they  sat  as 
a court  of  justice  both  cml  and  criminal. 

Among  their  proceedings  we  find  ordinances  for- 
bidding galloping  through  the  streets  and  shooting 
partridges  or  other  game  within  the  town  limits ; or- 
dering horses  and  oxen  to  be  led  through  the  streets 
by  the  head,  and  children  to  be  catechised  on 
Sunday;  regulating  the  value  of  wampum  and  the 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  12J 


prices  of  various  commodities.  But  although  these 
municipal  powers  were  usually  conceded  to  the 
magistrates,  the  director  and  his  Council  reserved 
the  right  to  make  regulations  overriding  those  of 
the  burgomasters  and  schepens.  Thus  the  arbitrary 
spirit  of  Stuyvesant  continued  to  obstruct  the  free 
institutions  which  the  States-General  intended  to 
implant  in  New  Netherland.  One  day  an  order 
issued  from  the  fort  forbidding  the  game  of  “ Riding 
the  Goose  ” at  the  feast  of  Backus  and  Shrove-tide. 
The  order  was  very  unpopular,  and  the  magistrates 
at  the  Stadt  Huys  felt  aggrieved  that  it  should 
have  been  proclaimed  without  any  consultation 
with  them.  “ Aggrieved,  forsooth  ! ” wrote  Stuy- 
vesant, haughtily,  “ because  the  director-general  had 
done  this  without  their  consent  and  knowledge  ! As 
if  without  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the  burgo- 
masters and  schepens  no  order  can  be  made,  no 
mob  interdicted  from  celebrating  the  feast  of 
Backus ; much  less  have  the  privilege  of  correcting 
such  persons  as  tread  under  foot  the  Christian  and 
holy  precepts,  without  the  knowledge  and  consent 
of  a little  bench  of  justices  ! Appreciating  their  own 
authority,  quality,  and  commission  better  than  oth- 
ers, the  director  and  Council  hereby  make  known 
to  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  that  the  institution 
of  a little  bench  of  justices  under  the  name  of  the 
schout,  burgomasters,  and  schepens,  or  commission- 
ers, does  in  no  wise  diminish  aught  of  the  power  of 
the  director-general  and  councillors.” 

The  first  police  and  fire  departments  were  estab- 
lished by  the  burgomasters  and  schepens.  In  1658 


128 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


was  organized  the  “ ratel  wacht,”  or  rattle-watch. 
The  first  watchmen  were  Pieter  Jansen,  Hendrick 
van  Bommel,  Jan  Cornelsen  van  Vlensburg,  Jan 
Pietersen,  Gerrit  Pietersen,  Jan  Jansen  van  Lang- 
straat,  Hendrick  Ruyter,  Jacques  Pryn,  and  Tomas 
Verdran.  The  wages  were  twenty-four  stuyvers  per 
night,  to  have  “ one  or  two  beavers  besides,  and  two 
or  three  hundred  sticks  of  firewood.”  The  captain 
of  the  watch,  Ludowyck  Pos,  was  authorized  to  collect 
monthly  from  each  house  the  sum  of  fifty  stuyvers 
to  meet  the  expenses.  The  following  rules  of  the 
watch  were  adopted  : — 

“ When  any  one  comes  on  the  watch  being  drunk, 
or  in  any  way  insolent  or  unreasonable  in  his  beha- 
viour, he  shall  be  committed  to  the  square-room  or 
to  the  battlements  of  the  town  hall,  and  shall  be- 
sides pay  six  stuyvers. 

“ When  any  one  shall  hold  watch  in  the  battle- 
ments, he  shall  diligently  be  on  the  lookout ; and  if 
he  be  found  asleep  during  his  hours  of  watch,  he  shall 
forfeit  ten  stuyvers. 

“ If  any  one  be  heard  to  blaspheme  the  name  of 
God,  he  shall  forfeit  ten  stuyvers. 

“ If  any  one  attempt  to  fight  when  on  the  watch, 
or  tries  to  draw  off  from  the  watch  for  the  purpose 
of  fighting,  he  shall  forfeit  two  guilders. 

“ When  they  receive  their  quarter  money,  they 
shall  not  hold  any  gathering  for  drink  or  any  club 
meeting. 

“ They  shall  at  all  corners  of  the  streets,  beW^een 
the  ninth  hour  of  the  evening  and  the  break  of  morn- 
ing, call  out  the  time  of  night  and  how  late  it  is.” 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  129 


The  customary  thatched  roofs,  wooden  chimneys, 
and  hay-stacks  near  the  houses  were  a constant 
source  of  danger  from  fire.  An  order  was  issued  in 
1655  forbidding  the  future  construction  of  wooden 
chimneys  between  the  fort  and  the  Fresh  Water. 
Adriaen  Keyser,  Thomas  Hall,  Martin  Cregier,  and 
Joris  Wolsey  were  appointed  wardens  to  enforce 
the  regulation.  But  it  was  not  until  1657,  when  it 
was  evident  that  one  fire  might  sweep  the  town,  that 
systematic  precautions  were  adopted.  In  that  year 
all  wooden  chimneys,  thatched  roofs,  hay-stacks, 
hen-houses,  and  hog-pens  within  the  town  wall  were 
ordered  to  be  removed.  The  burgomasters  and 
schepens  levied  a tax  on  each  house,  great  or  small, 
of  one  beaver-skin,  or  eight  guilders  in  seawant, 
to  furnish  fire-buckets,  ladders,  and  hooks.  To 
maintain  them  a yearly  tax  of  one  guilder  was  col- 
lected for  every  chimney.  The  shoemakers  were 
called  before  the  burgomasters,  and  it  was  agreed 
with  Remout  Remoutsen  and  Adriaen  van  Lair  to 
make  two  hundred  and  fifty  buckets  for  six  guil- 
ders two  stuyvers  each  ; payment,  — half  beavers, 
half  seawant.  The  ladders  were  placed  at  con- 
venient points  in  the  streets.  The  buckets  were 
distributed  as  follows : in  the  Stadt  Huys,  fifty ; 
in  Abraham  Verplanck’s  house  in  the  Smith’s 
Valey,  twelve ; in  Johannes  Pietersen  van  Bruggh’s, 
twelve  j in  Heer  Paulus  Leendertsen  van  der 
Grist’s,  twelve ; in  Heer  Nicasius  de  Side’s,  in  the 
Sheep  Path,  twelve ; in  Pieter  Wolfertsen  van 
Couwenhoven’s,  twelve ; in  Hendrick  Hendricksen 
Kip’s,  ten. 


9 


130 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


The  burgomasters  and  schepens  met  as  a civil 
and  criminal  court  once  a fortnight ; and  when  busi- 
ness required  it,  once  a week.  A recess  of  a month 
took  place  about  Christmas-time,  and  no  sittings 
were  held  during  the  harvest.  At  nine  o’clock  Jan 
Gillisen  Koeck  rang  the  court-house  bell ; and  in- 
side the  council-chamber  Johannes  Nevius  turned 
the  hour-glass,  and  fined  all  persons  who  were  late. 
The  burgomasters  and  schepens  sat  on  benches 
provided  with  cushions,  the  same  which  on  Sundays 
were  carried  to  their  pew  in  church.  Behind  them 
was  the  coat-of-arms  of  New  Netherland,  sent  over 
from  Holland.  Johannes  Nevius  had  charge  of  the 
law-library,  to  which  the  court  resorted  when  in 
doubt.  Among  the  books  were  “ Placards,  Ordi- 
nances, and  Octroys  of  the  Honourable,  Great,  and 
Mighty  Lords,  the  States  of  Holland  and  of  West 
Friesland,”  “ The  By-laws  of  Amsterdam,”  and 
“ The  Dutch  Court  Practice  and  Laws.”  Claes  van 
Elslant,  son  of  the  old  sexton,  was  court- messenger ; 
Pieter  Schaafbanck  was  jailer ; and  Matthew  de 
Vos,  bailiff.  Proceedings  were  opened  by  a prayer 
from  the  domine. 

Litigants  nearly  always  appeared  in  person,  and 
presented  their  own  cases.  Van  der  Donck,  who 
was  an  educated  lawyer,  requested  permission  of  the 
College  of  the  XIX.,  in  1653,  to  practise  at  New 
Amsterdam ; but  he  was  allowed  only  to  give  advice, 
on  the  ground  that  “ as  there  was  no  other  lawyer 
in  the  colony  there  would  be  none  to  oppose  him.” 
There  were  several  notaries.  Dirck  van  Schelluyne, 
who  came  out  in  1641,  was  the  first;  others  were 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  131 


David  Provoost,  Solomon  La  Chair,  Van  der  Veen, 
Van  VIeck,  and  Pelgrum  Clocq.  These  men  could 
draw  wills  and  deeds,  and  their  knowledge  of  legal 
forms  was  sufficient  for  the  simple  needs  of  their 
clients.  If  they  made  a mistake,  the  Worshipful 
Court  was  not  slow  in  its  reprimand.  Pelgrum  Clocq 
drew  up  a deed  without  procuring  the  appointment 
of  a guardian  for  an  infant,  whereupon  he  was  thus 
addressed  in  open  court : — 

“ Whereas,  you,  Pelgrum  Clocq,  in  the  above  and 
other  of  your  instruments,  have  committed  great 
abuses,  wherefrom  serious  mischiefs  might  arise ; 
and,  according  to  the  law  of  the  Orphan  Chambers, 
no  notary  can  draw  up  any  instrument  relating  to 
widows  and  orphans  without  a chosen  guardian,  — 
therefore  you  are  hereby  ordered  and  charged  by 
the  burgomasters  and  schepens  of  this  town  not  to 
draw  up  within  six  weeks  from  date  any  instrument 
appertaining  to  the  Subaltern  court  of  this  town.” 

The  proceedings  of  the  court  may  be  shown  best 
by  reciting  some  cases,  and  their  disposition. 

“Jan  Haeckins,  plaintiff,  demands  payment  from 
Jacob  van  Couwenhoven,  defendant,  for  certain  beer 
sold  him  according  to  contract.  The  defendant  says 
the  beer  is  bad.  Plaintiff  denies  that  the  beer  is  bad, 
and  asks  whether  people  would  buy  it  if  it  were 
not  good.  He  further  insists  that  the  beer  is  of 
good  quality,  and  such  as  is  made  for  exportation. 
Couwenhoven  denies  this,  and  requests  that  after 
the  rising  of  the  bench  the  court  may  come  over 
and  try  the  beer,  and  then  decide.  The  parties 
having  been  heard,  it  was  ordered  that  after  the 


132 


PETER  STUYVESANT 


meeting  breaks  up  the  beer  shall  be  tried,  and  if 
good,  then  Couwenhoven  shall  make  payment  ac- 
cording to  the  contract ; if  otherwise,  the  plaintiff 
shall  make  deduction.” 

VVolfert  Webber,  plaintiff,  against  Judith  Verleth, 
defendant : “ The  plaintiff  makes  complaint  that  the 
defendant  has  for  a long  time  pestered  him,  and 
with  her  sister  Sara  came  over  to  his  house  last 
week  and  beat  him  in  his  own  house,  and  afterw'ard 
threw  stones  at  him.  He  requests  that  said  Judith 
may  be  ordered  to  let  him  live  quietly  in  his  own 
house.  The  defendant  acknowledges  that  she  has 
struck  Webber,  but  excuses  the  act  because  he  has 
called  her  names ; moreover,  he  once  threatened 
to  strike  her  with  a broom.  The  parties  are  or- 
dered to  leave  each  other  unmolested.”  Webber  is 
fined  twelve  stuyvers  for  passing  the  lie  during  the 
meeting. 

Certain  domestic  troubles  between  Arent  Juniaan- 
sen  Lantsman  and  his  wife  Beletje,  the  daughter 
of  Ludowyck  Pos,  having  been  brought  to  the  notice 
of  the  court,  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  Homi- 
nes Megapolensis  and  Drisius,  who  were  requested 
to  reconcile  the  pair.  “ Then,  on  the  promise  of 
amendment  and  that  such  should  not  occur  again, 
shall  the  past  be  forgiven ; but  if  one  or  the  other 
party  shall  not  abide  by  nor  submit  to  advice  and 
arbitration  of  the  reverend  preachers  between  this 
and  the  next  court  day,  then  proceedings  may  be 
expected  according  to  the  style  and  custom  of  law, 
as  an  example  to  other  evil  housekeepers.” 

Pieter  Kock  and  Anna  van  Voorst  having  entered 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  133 


into  an  agreement  of  marriage,  and  then  having 
shown  unwillingness  to  fulfil  the  engagement,  “ the 
burgomasters  and  schepens  by  these  presents  decide, 
that  as  the  promise  of  marriage  has  been  made  be- 
fore the  Omniscient  God  it  shall  remain  in  force  ; 
so  that  neither  the  plaintiff  nor  defendant,  without 
the  approbation  of  their  lordships  the  magistrates 
and  the  other  one  of  the  registered  parties,  shall 
be  permitted  to  enter  matrimony  with  any  other, 
whether  single  man  or  single  woman.” 

As  there  was  no  prison  for  criminals,  they  were 
punished  by  fines,  whipping,  branding,  the  stocks, 
the  ducking-stool,  labour  with  negroes,  riding  on  a 
wooden-horse,  and  banishment.  The  rack  was  used 
to  threaten  with ; but  it  is  unlikely  that  there  ever 
was  a rack  on  Manhattan  Island.  In  criminal  cases 
the  sellout  prosecuted. 

Hannen  Barentzen  was  sentenced  to  be  chastised 
with  the  rod  and  banished  from  the  town  for  five 
years  for  stealing  three  half  beavers,  two  nose-cloths, 
and  a pair  of  linen  stockings.  Mesaack  Martens 
stole  cabbages  from  Pieter  Jansen,  in  the  Maiden 
Lane.  He  had  to  stand  in  the  pillory  with  cabbages 
on  his  head,  and  was  then  banished  for  five  years. 
Jan  Alleman,  an  officer  in  the  fort,  was  sentenced 
to  ride  the  wooden-horse  and  to  be  cashiered  for 
sending  a challenge  to  Jan  de  Fries  who  was  bed- 
ridden.  Abel  Hardenbrook  was  fined  forty  guilders 
for  having  “ at  night  and  at  unseasonable  hours,  in 
company  with  some  soldiers,  created  an  uproar  and 
great  insolence  in  the  street  by  breaking  windows.” 
Madaleen  Vincent  accused  Wilhelm  Beeckman  and 


134 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


the  schout-fiscal  of  winning  her  husband’s  money  at 
play,  and  of  leading  him  into  evil  courses.  She  could 
not  prove  her  allegations,  and  so  was  fined  sixty  guild- 
ers. Pieter  Pietersen  Smit  called  Joghem  Beeckman 
a “ black  pudding ; ” Isaac  Bedlo  called  Joost  Goderis 
a “ horned  beast.”  The  slanderers  were  fined. 

An  aggravated  case  was  that  of  the  schout  An- 
thony de  Mill  against  Abel  Hardenbrook.  “The 
Heer  Schout  complains  that  the  defendant  Harden- 
brook has  shoved  him  on  the  breast,  and  abused 
him  with  foul  and  unseemly  language,  wishing  that 
the  devil  should  break  his  neck,  when,  on  the  third 
September  last,  the  Heer  Plaintiff  repaired,  by  or- 
der of  the  burgomasters  and  schepens,  to  defend- 
ant’s house,  to  warn  his  wife  that  she  should  not  go 
again  to  the  house  of  the  Heer  Burgomaster  Johan- 
nes de  Peyster,  as  she  now  had  twice  done,  to  make 
trouble  there ; also  had  obstinately  refused  to  obey 
the  order  of  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  as  well 
as  the  court-messenger  Henry  Newton,  the  burgo- 
master Luyck,  and  Heer  Schepen  Wilhelm  Beeck- 
man, as  to  him  the  plaintiff ; and  that  the  said 
delinquent  being  in  the  evening  a prisoner  at  the 
towm  hall,  in  the  chamber  of  Pieter  Schaefbanck, 
carried  on  and  made  a racket  like  one  possessed 
and  mad,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  Heer 
Burgomaster  Johannes  van  Bruggh,  running  up  to 
the  court-room  and  going  away  next  morning  as  if 
he  had  not  been  imprisoned.  . . . All  which  ought 
in  no  manner  to  be  tolerated  in  a well-ordered  bur- 
gherjq  being  directly  contrarj'  to  the  customs  and 
provisions  of  the  laws.  . . . The  burgomasters  and 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  135 


schepens,  having  heard  the  delinquent’s  excuse 
and  the  arguments  between  parties,  and  examined 
the  evidence  produced,  condemn  the  delinquent  in 
a fine  or  penalty  of  twenty-five  florins  in  beavers ; 
further,  that  the  delinquent  for  the  assault  shall 
beg  pardon  of  the  Court,  God,  and  Justice,  and  pay 
the  costs  incurred  herein.” 

The  magistrates  were  careful  to  uphold  the  dig- 
nity of  public  office.  When  the  fire  inspectors  were 
going  about  ordering  the  demolition  of  wooden 
chimneys,  Solomon  la  Chair  lost  his  temper,  and 
abused  the  inspectors,  calling  them,  among  other 
names,  “ chimney-sweepers.”  His  conduct  having 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  court,  he  was  fined, 
and  a messenger  was  sent  to  collect  the  fine. 
Solomon  paid  it  with  the  contemptuous  remark, 
“ Is  it  to  have  a little  cock  booted  and  spurred  that 
I am  to  give  it?”  For  this  the  court  imposed  a 
further  fine  of  twelve  guilders,  on  the  ground  that 
“ it  is  not  seemly  that  men  should  mock  and  scoff 
at  persons  appointed  to  any  office,  — yea,  a neces- 
sary office.”  The  house  of  Pietertje  Jans  was  sold 
on  an  execution  for  debt.  Whereupon  she  declared 
publicly  to  the  officers  of  the  court,  “Ye  despoilers  ! 
ye  bloodsuckers  ! ye  have  not  sold,  but  given  away 
my  house  ! ” The  officers  complained  that  such 
words  were  “ a sting  that  cannot  be  endured.” 
Whereupon  Pietertje  was  brought  before  the  magis- 
trates, and  reprimanded  in  the  following  terms  : 

“ Whereas,  thou,  Pietertje  Jans,  hast  presumed 
shamefully  to  attack  honourable  people  with  foul, 
villainous,  injurious  words,  — yea,  infamous  words; 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


136 

also  insulting,  defaming,  affronting,  and  reproach- 
ing the  Worshipful  Court  of  this  town,  publicly  on 
the  highway,  to  avenge  the  loss  v'hich  thou  hast 
caused  thyself  in  regard  that  thy  house  and  lot  w'ere 
sold  on  an  execution,  — which  blasphemy,  insult, 
affront,  and  reproach  cannot  be  tolerated  or  suf- 
fered to  be  done  to  a private  individual,  more 
especially  to  the  court  aforesaid,  but  must  in  the 
highest  degree  be  reprimanded,  particularly  cor- 
rected, and  severely  punished  as  criminal : There- 
fore the  heeren  of  the  court  hereby  interdict  and 
forbid  you  to  indulge  in  such  blasphemies  for  the 
future,  or  by  neglect  the  judge  shall  hereafter  pro- 
vide for  it.” 

The  notary  Walewyn  van  der  Veen  was  in  con- 
tempt of  court  several  times.  On  one  occasion, 
when  a case  had  been  decided  against  him,  he 
spoke  of  the  magistrates  as  “ simpletons  and  block- 
heads.” The  court  decided  that  “ Van  der  Veen, 
for  his  committed  insult,  shall  here  beg  forgiveness, 
with  uncovered  head,  of  God,  Justice,  and  the  Wor- 
shipful Court,  and  moreover  pay  as  a fine  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety  guilders.”  On  another  occasion, 
when  the  secretary  Johannes  Nevius  declined  to 
show  him  some  records,  Van  der  Veen  called  him 
a “ rascal,”  and  said  further,  “ Had  I you  at  another 
place  I would  teach  you  something  else.”  The 
secretary  complained  to  the  burgomasters  and 
schepens  of  this  treatment,  and  the  schout,  as  pro- 
secutor, presented  the  case  to  the  court,  saying  : 
“ That  in  consequence  of  the  slander  and  affront 
offered  to  plaintiff  in  scolding  him  as  a rascal. 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OP  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  1 37 

which  affects  his  honour,  being  tender ; and  as  the 
Honourable  and  Worshipful  Court  is  not  willing  to 
be  attended  by  a rascally  secretary,  — he  demands  a 
fine  of  fifty  guilders,  that  it  may  serve  as  an  example 
to  all  other  slanderers,  who  for  trifles  have  con- 
stantly in  their  mouths  curses  and  abuse  of  other 
honourable  people.” 

Until  the  adoption  of  the  burgher  government 
the  finances  of  New  Amsterdam  were  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  West  India  Company.  But  in  r654, 
when  the  director  found  himself  confronted  by  a 
debt  of  seven  thousand  guilders  incurred  in  preparing 
for  the  expected  hostilities  with  New  England,  he 
resolved  to  shift  the  burden  upon  the  new  magis- 
trates, and  directed  them  to  consider  the  means  to 
pay  the  debt.  A special  meeting  was  held  for  the 
purpose,  the  following  being  present : Arent  van 
Hatten,  Martin  Cregier,  Paulus  Leendertsen  van 
der  Grist,  Pieter  Couwenhoven,  Wilhelm  Beeckman, 
and  Martin  van  Gheel.  The  importance  of  the 
issue  made  it  advisable  to  secure  the  support  of 
the  Commonalty,  and  a number  of  burghers  were 
requested  to  attend  in  an  advisory  capacity,  among 
whom  were  Johannes  Pietersen  van  Bruggh,  Johan- 
nes Gilliesen  van  Bruggh,  Jacob  van  Couwenhoven, 
Govert  Loockermans,  Oloff  Stevensen  van  Court- 
landt,  Abram  Verplanck,  Johannes  de  Peyster,  and 
Coenraet  Ten  Eyck.  The  burgomasters  and  sche- 
pens,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  private  burghers, 
decided  that  the  duty  of  defending  the  town  be- 
longed to  the  West  India  Company,  and  that  the 
Commonalty  was  not  liable  for  the  debt.  They 


138 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


would  take  no  steps  in  the  matter  until  the  di- 
rector-general abandoned  his  excise  on  wine  and 
beer,  when  they  would  find  means  to  raise  the  ne- 
cessary money.  Stuyvesant  refused  to  give  up  the 
obnoxious  excise,  saying  that  it  had  already  been 
paid  into  the  Company’s  counting-house.  The 
magistrates  held  another  meeting,  and  declared 
positively  that  they  would  do  nothing  toward  pay- 
ing the  debt  until  the  excise  was  transferred  to  the 
treasury  of  the  burgomasters  and  schepens.  If  any 
calamity  resulted,  they  held  themselves  blameless. 
The  director  was  obliged  to  yield,  and  relinquished 
the  “tapster’s  excise”  to  the  town  authorities,  with 
the  only  condition  that  the  salaries  of  Domines 
Megapolensis  and  Drisius  should  be  paid  out  of 
it.  This  was  the  first  revenue  coming  to  the  tovm 
of  New  Amsterdam. 

Having  gained  this  point,  the  burgomasters  and 
schepens  raised  the  seven  thousand  guilders  in  1655 
by  a direct  tax  on  the  citizens  in  proportion  to  their 
supposed  wealth.  A considerable  number  not  only 
paid  the  sum  levied  upon  them,  but  added  a further 
voluntary  contribution.  The  largest  payments  were 
made  by  P.  Stuyvesant,  C.  van  Tienhoven,  A.  An- 
thony, O.  S.  van  Courtlandt,  T.  W.  van  Couwen- 
hoven,  J.  P.  van  Bruggh,  C.  Steenwyck,  Covert 
Loockermans,  Jacobus  Backer,  J.  L.  van  der  Grist, 
J.  van  Couwenhoven,  P.  L.  van  der  Grist,  Jo. 
Nevius,  Jo.  de  Peyster,  Martin  Cregier,  Domine 
Megapolensis,  Domine  Drisius,  Jeremias  van  Ren- 
sselaer, Isaac  de  Forest,  Cornells  van  Ruyven, 
Wilhelm  Beeckman,  Hendrick  van  Dyck,  Ludowyck 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  139 


Kip,  Arent  van  Corker,  Jacob  Kip,  Isaac  Kip, 
Conraet  Ten  Eyck,  Abram  Verplanck,  P.  C.  van 
der  Veen,  H.  J.  Vandervin. 

The  next  year  the  town  was  again  in  financial 
straits.  The  town  wall,  the  schoeyinge,  the  Stadt 
Huys,  the  watchroom,  the  schoolhouse,  and  the  graft 
were  all  in  need  of  repairs,  for  which  the  excise 
duties  were  far  from  sufficient.  The  burgomasters 
and  schepens  applied  in  vain  to  the  West  India 
Company  for  relief.  Stuyvesant  was  resolved  that 
the  Stadt  Huys  should  get  no  help  from  the  Fort. 
The  next  year,  1657,  matters  were  not  improved, 
as  the  records  show  : — 

Hendrick  Hendricksen,  drummer,  attended  the 
meeting  of  the  burgomasters,  and  requested  payment 
of  promised  yearly  wages ; but  as  the  chest  at  pres- 
ent is  not  well  supplied,  the  applicant  is  requested 
to  wait  until  the  first  convenient  opportunity,  when 
he  shall  be  satisfied. 

“Jan  Jansen,  woodcutter,  left  at  the  meeting  his 
account  for  timber  and  other  work  for  the  town ; 
but  since  he  is  not  present  himself,  and  the  chest 
is  not  well  supplied,  the  consideration  of  the  same 
is  put  off.” 

In  1658  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  placed 
taxes  upon  land- transfers,  taverns,  and  slaughtered 
cattle,  and  managed  to  raise  sufficient  money  to 
meet  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  town.  But  the 
chest  never  contained  enough  to  pay  their  own 
salaries. 

There  was  very  little  gold  or  silver  money  at  New 
Amsterdam.  In  their  place  beaver  and  other  skins 


140  PETER  STUYVESANT 

and  the  Indian  wampum,  or  seawant,  served  as  a 
medium  of  exchange  in  cases  where  simple  barter 
was  inconvenient.  The  beaver-skin  was  the  stan- 
dard. The  West  India  Company  paid  eight  guil- 
ders for  a beaver  over  its  counter,  and  thus  its  value 
was  fixed.  Inferior  skins  brought  less,  and  so  their 
condition  entered  into  every  bargain.  The  seawant 
derived  its  value  from  its  purchasing  power  with 
the  Indians.  As  beaver-skins  grew  scarcer,  it  re- 
quired more  seawant  to  buy  one  : hence  this  cur- 
rency depreciated  steadily.  The  buyer  and  the 
seller  had  to  come  to  an  agreement  as  to  the 
amount  of  beavers  and  seawant  an  article  was 
worth. 

The  foreign  trade  of  New  Amsterdam  was  made 
up  by  the  exportation  of  skins  and  tobacco,  and  the 
importation  of  tools,  clothing,  and  articles  adapted 
to  Indian  exchange.  Until  1660  the  foreign  trade 
was  limited  to  Holland,  — a circumstance  which  re- 
stricted the  enterprise  of  New  Amsterdam  mer- 
chants, and  caused  much  complaint.  In  that  year 
trading  was  allowed  with  France,  Spain,  Italy,  and 
the  West  India  Islands,  on  payment  of  duties ; and 
this  extension  brought  added  prosperity  during  the 
few  years  which  remained  of  Dutch  rule.  It  was 
not  until  after  the  English  occupation,  when  New 
York  became  a grain-producing  and  exporting  coun- 
try, that  wealth  became  considerable.  The  peltry- 
trade  alone  was  never  sufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of 
the  colony. 

Several  causes  tended  to  reduce  the  profits  of  the 
Dutch-Indian  trade.  The  French  in  Canada  became 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  141 

active  competitors  ; as  New  Netherland  grew,  the 
Indians  were  pushed  into  the  interior,  and  skins 
were  less  easily  obtained.  But  the  most  serious 
cause  was  the  intrusion  of  foreign  traders,  who  sailed 
past  New  Amsterdam,  outbid  the  Dutchmen  at  the 
trading-posts  up  the  river,  and  gradually  stole  away 
their  business.  Even  in  the  town  the  foreign  ped- 
dlers, who  kept  no  “ fire  and  light,”  were  reaping 
profits  which  belonged  to  Dutch  citizens.  Realiz- 
ing the  injury  which  resulted  to  permanent  settlers 
by  the  operations  of  these  “ base,  itinerant  deal- 
ers,” who  bore  no  share  in  the  expense  of  govern- 
ment, the  burgomasters  and  schepens  petitioned  the 
director  and  Council  to  withdraw  the  privilege  of 
free  trade  from  foreigners;  to  make  them  keep 
open  shop  in  New  Amsterdam,  and  pay  the 
usual  taxes. 

In  February,  1657,  Stuyvesant  and  his  Council 
limited  the  right  of  trade  to  recognized  citizens ; 
and  in  order  to  draw  the  line  between  them  and  the 
foreigners,  an  institution  called  the  “ Great  and  Small 
Citizenship  ” was  established.  The  Great  Citizens 
were  to  be  : (i)  Those  who  have  been  or  are  mem- 
bers of  the  supreme  government,  with  descendants 
in  the  male  line  ; ( 2 ) Past  and  present  burgomasters 
and  schepens  in  the  town  with  their  descendants ; 
(3)  Former  and  present  ministers  of  the  gospel,  with 
their  descendants ; and  (4)  Officers  of  the  militia, 
with  their  descendants.  Other  persons  could  obtain 
the  distinction  by  paying  fifty  guilders.  The  Small 
Citizens  were  to  be  ; ( i ) Residents  for  one  year  and 
six  weeks,  who  have  kept  fire  and  light ; (2)  All  born 


142 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


in  the  town;  (3)  All  who  have  married  daughters 
of  citizens  born  in  the  town ; and  (4)  All  who  have 
opened  a store,  and  paid  to  the  burgomasters  twenty 
guilders.  The  distinction  created  between  Great 
and  Small  Citizens  was  declared  to  be  “ grounded 
in  reason,”  and  to  be  “ in  conformity  with  the  cus- 
toms of  the  city  of  Amsterdam  in  Europe.”  But 
very  few  of  the  burghers  considered  the  rank  of 
Great  Citizens  to  be  worth  fifty  guilders.  The 
names  on  the  list  were  nearly  all  of  persons  who 
had  held  office ; others  who  desired  enrolment 
for  business  reasons  contented  themselves  with 
the  Small  Citizenship.  Of  these  there  were  two 
hundred. 

Until  1656,  the  shores  of  the  Heere  Graft  formed 
the  market-place  of  the  town.  There  the  Indians 
drew  up  their  canoes  and  bartered  their  beaver- 
skins.  There  the  farmer  from  Long  Island,  from 
Bergen,  Nieuw  Haarlem,  or  Gamoenepa,  exchanged 
his  vegetables  and  fruits  for  tools,  clothing,  sugar, 
and  beer.  In  1648  was  inaugurated  the  annual  fair 
called  the  Kermis,  which  began  on  the  first  Monday 
after  the  feast  of  Saint  Bartholomew  and  continued 
for  ten  days.  All  comers  sold  their  goods  from  tents. 
In  1656,  it  became  evident  that  better  means  were 
required  to  bring  together  the  producer  and  con- 
sumer ; and  the  magistrates  proclaimed,  “ Whereas, 
divers  articles,  such  as  meat,  pork,  butter,  cheese, 
turnips,  cabbage,  and  other  country  produce,  are 
from  time  to  time  brought  here  for  sale  by  the  peo- 
ple living  in  the  countr}',  and  oftentimes  wait  at  the 
strand  without  the  people  living  out  of  that  immedi- 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  143 

ate  neighbourhood  knowing  that  such  things  are  for 
sale  in  the  town : Therefore  it  is  ordered  that  from 
this  time  forward,  Saturday  in  each  week  shall  be 
appointed  as  market-day,  the  articles  to  be  brought 
on  the  beach,  near  Mr.  Hans  Kierstede’s  house ; of 
which  all  shall  take  notice.”  This  spot  remained  for 
many  years  a resort  for  dealers  in  country  produce. 
In  1659  a yearly  cattle- market  was  established  by 
the  burgomasters  and  schepens  for  “ fat  cattle, 
steers,  cows,  sheep,  goats,  hogs,  bucks,  and  such 
like.”  It  opened  on  October  20,  and  lasted  till 
the  end  of  November.  The  site  was  the  present 
Bowling  Green,  where  shambles  were  erected  and 
“ the  key  given  to  Andries  the  baker,  to  keep  over- 
sight of  the  same.”  Posts  were  set  up  along  Broad- 
way opposite  the  churchyard,  to  which  the  animals 
were  attached  pending  sale.  The  proclamation  for 
this  market  was  translated  into  English  and  sent  to 
Standtfort,  Uncque,  Suidhampton,  Suidhool,  Straat- 
foort,  Milfort,  and  Oosthampton.  This  fair  was  held 
for  more  than  thirty  years.  During  its  continuance 
no  visitor  could  be  arrested  for  debt,  and  the  attend- 
ance was  large  from  Connecticut  and  all  parts  of 
New  Netherland.  The  fish-market  was  at  Coenties 
Slip,  so-called  because  the  land  in  this  vicinity  was 
the  property  of  Conraet  Ten  Eyck,  who  was  famil- 
iarly known  as  Coentje. 

Of  separate  shops  there  were  none  ; but  many 
of  the  merchants  used  parts  of  the  ground-floor  of 
their  houses  as  retail  stores,  especially  those  living 
on  the  Hoogh  Straat.  Most  of  these  were  general 
stores,  in  which  hardware,  dry-goods,  and  wines  were 


144 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


all  sold.  Cornells  Steenvyck,  at  the  comer  of 
Bridge  and  Whitehall  streets,  made  a specialty  of 
dry-goods,  and  grew  rich  by  selling  petticoats,  linen, 
and  ribbons  to  the  women,  breeches  and  shirts  to 
the  men.  Steenwyck’s  was  the  most  fashionable 
store,  and  much  frequented  by  the  “vrows.” 

When  Peter  Stuyvesant  came  out  as  director,  the 
houses  of  New  Amsterdam  were  nearly  all  poorly 
built  of  wood,  with  thatched  roofs  and  wooden 
chimneys ; but  with  the  return  of  peace  and  pros- 
perity the  town  was  gradually  rebuilt.  By  1664, 
when  the  Dutch  rule  terminated,  there  were  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  houses,  of  which  a consider- 
able number  were  of  a substantial  character.  Small 
coloured  bricks,  and  black  and  yellow  tiles  for  roofs, 
were  imported  from  Holland ; and  it  was  the  ambi- 
tion of  the  wealthier  Dutch  citizens  to  constmct 
their  houses  of  these.  The  buildings  stood  with  the 
gable  end  toward  the  street,  the  roof  rising  to  a 
peak  by  a series  of  steps.  The  stoop  was  made  an 
important  feature ; there  the  burgher  sat  with  his 
family  on  pleasant  evenings.  Connected  with  every 
house  of  any  pretension  was  a garden,  where  kitchen 
vegetables  and  flowers  were  cultivated.  In  some 
cases  these  gardens  were  made  highly  ornamental, 
and  the  subject  of  family  pride.  The  improvement 
in  the  appearance  of  the  town  was  gradual,  but  con- 
tinuous. After  the  haystacks,  piggeries,  and  other 
unsightly  objects  had  been  suppressed  by  the  mag- 
istrates, and  the  streets  straightened  and  paved,  the 
citizens  made  individual  efforts  to  adorn  their  prop- 
erties, which  soon  changed  the  appearance  of  New 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  ME IV  AMSTERDAM.  145 


Amsterdam  very  much  for  the  better.  The  water 
supply  during  this  period  was  derived  from  wells 
near  the  houses,  and  from  streams  and  springs  when 
convenient.  Later  on,  public  wells  were  dug  in 
various  parts  of  the  town. 

In  the  interior  of  the  houses  we  see  the  same 
improvement  keeping  pace  with  prosperity.  The 
floors  were  covered  with  a thin  layer  of  sand  drawn 
by  the  broom  into  quaint  figures.  Carpets  were 
long  in  coming  into  use.  There  was  one  in  Cor- 
nelis  Steenwyck’s  “ great  chamber  ” when  he  died 
in  1686,  and  by  that  time  the  parlours  of  the  principal 
citizens  probably  had  them.  There  were  “tabby” 
curtains  at  the  windows.  The  principal  articles  of 
furniture,  imported  from  Holland  and  handed  down 
from  father  to  son,  were  the  sideboard,  with  its 
pewter  and  sometimes  silver  or  china  furniture,  the 
sofa  and  chairs  in  the  best  room,  the  four-posted 
bed,  the  linen  chest,  and  the  hand-loom.  As  it  ap- 
pears by  the  inventories  of  deceased  persons,  the 
furniture  increased  very  much  in  quantity  and  value 
as  time  went  on.  Before  1650  people  had  only 
the  most  necessary  articles;  after  1670  a great  in- 
crease in  wealth  and  comfort  appears.  Dr.  Jacob 
Lange  died  in  1685.  Enumerated  as  part  of  his 
estate  were  a sword  with  silver  handle,  another  with 
an  iron  handle,  a carbine,  a pistol,  a cane  with  silver 
head,  and  another  with  ivory  head.  Among  his  cloth- 
ing were  found  a gros-grained  cloak  lined  with  silk, 
a black  broadcloth  suit,  a coloured  serge  suit  with  sil- 
ver buttons,  silk  and  calico  drawers,  silk  night-caps,  a 
pair  of  yellow  hand-gloves  with  black  silk  fringe,  five 


10 


146 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


white  calico  stockings,  and  two  worsted  stockings. 
Dr.  Lange’s  wife  had  when  she  died  red  and 
scarlet  under-petticoats,  cloth  petticoats  with  black 
lace'  striped  stuffed  petticoats,  coloured  drugget  pet- 
ticoats with  various  coloured  linings  and  lace,  black 
silk  petticoats  with  gray  silk  lining,  black  pottofoo 
petticoats  with  black  and  gray  silk  linings  : these 
petticoats  were  valued  at  Besides  these  she 

had  a black  tartanel  samare  with  a tucker,  a flow- 
ered calico  samare,  flowered  and  red  calico  night- 
gowns, silk  and  red  calico  waistcoats,  a bodice, 
white  cotton  stockings,  five  black  love-hoods,  one 
white  love-hood,  sleeves  with  great  lace,  comet 
caps  with  and  without  lace,  a black  silk  rain-cloth, 
a yellow  love-hood,  a black  plush  mask,  an  em- 
broidered purse  with  silver  bugle  and  chain  to  the 
girdle,  a silver  hook  and  eye,  five  small  East  India 
boxes,  five  hair- curlings,  four  yellow  love-drowlas, 
one  silver  thread-wrought  small  trunk,  in  which  was 
the  following  jewelrj' : a pair  of  black  pendants  with 
gold  hooks,  a gold  boat,  wherein  were  thirteen  dia- 
monds to  one  white  coral  chain,  one  pair  gold  pen- 
dants in  each  ten  diamonds,  two  diamond  rings,  one 
gold  ring,  and  another  gold  ring  with  diamonds. 

When  Comelis  Steenw}'ck  died  in  1686,  he  left 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-three  ounces  of  silver 
plate  and  ^^300  in  money.  Among  the  articles 
found  in  his  house,  apart  from  the  store,  were  a 
gold  chain  and  medal,  a child’s  whistle,  coats  and 
breeches  with  silver  buttons  and  buckles,  rush-leather 
chairs,  velvet  chairs  with  fine  silver  lace,  tables,  a 
cabinet,  a looking-glass,  thirteen  pictures,  bedsteads, 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  147 


ten  pieces  of  china,  five  alabaster  images,  tapestry  for 
twelve  cushions,  a great  deal  of  pewter,  and  some 
watches  and  clocks  which  were  out  of  order.  Prob- 
ably purchased  at  Steenwyck’s  store  were  the  fol- 
lowing articles  of  men’s  dress,  which  are  elsewhere 
enumerated  : green  silk  breeches  flowered  with  sil- 
ver and  gold,  silver  gauze  breeches,  scarlet  stockings, 
blue  silk  stockings,  laced  shirts,  laced  neck-cloths, 
a lacquer  hat,  bob  wigs  and  periwigs. 

Elizabeth  van  Es  died  in  1694,  aged  seventy 
years.  Her  inventory  contains  the  goods  in  the 
shop,  a share  in  a brigantine,  a negro-boy  Toby, 
two  bands  of  seawant,  two  breast-plates  of  seawant, 
one  silver  tankard,  one  silver  beker,  one  silver  mus- 
tard-pot, three  gold  hoop-rings,  two  gold  rings  with 
stones,  one  hundred  and  three  beaver-skins,  eighteen 
otters,  twenty-three  maters,  nine  fishers,  eight  minks, 
two  cats,  eighteen  rat-skins,  forty-nine  hespannen, 
nine  gray  squirrels,  one  red  squirrel,  seven  bear- 
skins, one  wolf,  one  beaver-rock,  two  Bibles  with 
silver  clasps  and  two  Dutch  Bibles,  a New  Testa- 
ment with  silver  clasps,  and  two  catechisms.  Her 
library  — which  was  a good  sample  of  the  contem- 
porary bookshelf  — contained  “ Isaac  Ambrosius,” 
“ Housewife,”  Howin’s  “ Church  History,”  French 
“ Flock  of  Israel,”  Coleman’s  “ Christian  Interest,” 
“Christ’s  Ways  and  Works,”  Dewitt’s  “ Catechism,” 
Duyken’s  “ Church  History.” 

In  Stuyvesant’s  time  domestic  servants  were  rare ; 
the  housework  was  performed  by  the  housewife  and 
her  daughters.  In  a few  of  the  wealthier  families 
one  or  two  Dutch  domestics  were  employed  as 


148 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


apprentices ; but  as  their  term  of  service  expired 
they  usually  married.  The  same  difficulty  prevailed 
in  regard  to  male  labourers.  Thus,  a ready  market 
was  found  for  African  negroes  when  Dutch  traders 
brought  them  to  Manhattan  Island.  In  1629  the 
West  India  Company  promised  to  supply  negro 
slaves  to  the  colony  as  fast  as  possible ; but  for 
many  years  the  arrivals  were  few,  and  these  served 
as  labourers  for  the  Company.  The  treatment  of 
them  was  humane,  and  freedom  was  generally 
within  their  reach  as  a reward  of  good  conduct. 
In  1644  a number  of  slaves  petitioned  Kieft  to  free 
them,  on  the  ground  of  long  service.  The  petition 
was  granted  as  to  themselves  and  their  wives,  but 
not  as  to  their  children.  The  freedmen  were  placed 
on  the  same  footing  with  other  citizens,  except  that 
they  had  to  pay  a yearly  tribute  to  the  Company. 
In  1646,  on  request  of  Domine  Megapolensis,  a 
slave  named  Jan  Francisco  was  freed  in  conse- 
quence of  faithful  service,  on  condition  of  paying 
the  Company  ten  skepels  of  wheat  annually.  Ne- 
groes were  brought  to  New  Amsterdam  only  from 
the  West  Indies  until  1654,  when  the  first  cargo 
arrived  direct  from  Africa.  The  slave-trade  was 
allowed  to  citizens  of  New  Netherland,  but  was 
not  participated  in  by  them  until  the  end  of  the 
century.  The  negroes  seemed  to  have  fared  well 
at  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  citizens,  and  to  have  been 
orderly  and  contented.  At  the  end  of  the  century 
they  had  increased  in  number,  and  were  generally 
employed  as  domestic  servants.  At  that  time,  we 
find  that  the  widow  Van  Courtlandt  had  seven  adults 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  149 

and  two  children ; Colonel  de  Peyster,  the  same 
number.  William  Beeckman  had  three  ; Rip  van 
Dam,  five  and  one  child.  The  widow  Philipse  had 
four,  and  three  children.  Members  of  the  Kip  family 
had  twelve.  Mrs.  Stuyvesant  had  five  ; Balthazar 
Bayard,  six;  John  van  Horn,  four;  Jacobus  van 
Courtland,  four  and  a child  ; David  Provoost,  Jr., 
three ; Col.  Nicholas  Bayard,  three ; Abraham 
Loockermans,  five  and  three  children.  Rebecca 
van  Schaick  had  three. 

During  the  rule  of  the  West  India  Company 
building-lots  were  conveyed  to  settlers  at  nominal 
prices,  and  until  near  the  end  of  Dutch  control  real- 
estate  values  remained  very  low.  About  1660  there 
was  a decided  advance,  following  on  increased  pros- 
perity ; and  this  advance  continued  steadily.  In 
1647  a farm  of  two  hundred  acres  near  Haarlem 
brought  forty  dollars.  In  1667  the  house  and  lot 
on  west  side  of  Broadway,  near  Morris  Street, 
brought  three  hundred  dollars.  In  the  same  year 
the  house  and  lot  next  north  of  Trinity  churchyard, 
fifty  by  ninety  feet,  was  sold  for  seventy-five  dollars. 
In  1682  a lot  on  Wall  Street  brought  thirty  dollars. 
In  1683  a lot  on  Pearl  Street,  near  John,  brought  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  In  1700  Wall  Street  had 
become  a favourite  locality,  and  a lot  on  the  corner 
of  Wall  and  Broad  was  sold  for  ^815.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a record  of  a contract  of  sale  of  real  estate 
made  in  Stuyvesant’s  time  : — 

“ Before  me,  Cornelius  van  Tienhoven,  secretary 
of  New  Netherland,  appeared  Harck  Sybesen,  who 
acknowledged  to  having  sold  to  Barent  Dircksen  his 


150  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

house  and  lot,  earth  and  nail- fast,  both  big  and 
little,  as  the  same  is  situated  on  the  Island  of  Man- 
hattan, near  Fort  Amsterdam,  — which  Dircksen  also 
acknowledges  to  have  purchased  for  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  guilders,  and  a half-barrel  of  beer 
as  a treat  for  the  company,  to  be  paid  in  fourteen 
days,  when  the  delivery  of  the  house  and  depend- 
encies shall  take  place.  It  is  agreed  that  if  either 
party  backs  out,  or  repents  of  the  sale,  he  shall  pay 
a half-barrel  of  beer.” 

The  descriptions  of  property  transferred  were  usu- 
ally rather  indefinite.  When  Govert  Loockermans 
purchased  the  land  near  Hanover  Square,  on  which 
he  lived,  it  was  thus  described  in  the  deed,  dated 
1642  : “A  dwelling-house  and  lot  situated  on  East 
River,  on  Manhattan  Island,  beginning  at  a brook 
of  fresh  water  emptying  into  the  East  River,  till  to 
the  farm  of  Cornelius  van  Tienhoven,  whose  pali- 
sades extend  from  the  long  highway  toward  the 
East  River,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  marks  by  him 
made  bordering  on  the  aforesaid  land,  from  the 
fence  to  the  great  tree.” 

In  the  disposition  of  property  by  will,  the  general 
custom  among  the  Dutch  was  for  the  husband  and 
wife  to  inherit  absolutely  from  each  other.  The 
married  pair  appeared  before  a notary  and  declared 
such  to  be  their  wish,  “ out  of  love  and  special  nup- 
tial affection.”  When  husband  or  wife  married  a sec- 
ond time,  it  was  arranged  that  the  property  of  the 
deceased  should  eventually  go  to  his  or  her  children. 
The  children  inherited  equally,  without  regard  to 
sex  or  priority  of  birth.  “ An  instance  of  which  I 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OP  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  151 


remember,”  said  Wooley,  “in  one  Frederick  Phi- 
lipse,  the  richest  Mein  Heer  in  that  place,  who  was 
said  to  have  whole  hogsheads  of  wampum,  who, 
having  one  son  and  one  daughter,  I was  admiring 
what  a heap  of  wealth  the  son  would  enjoy ; to 
which  a Dutchman  replied  that  the  daughter  must 
go  halves.”  In  dividing  property  among  the  chil- 
dren, the  testator  usually  specified  every  article 
in  detail : the  scarlet  petticoat  was  to  go  to  Ger- 
truyd,  the  black  love-hood  to  Annetje,  the  pew- 
ter tankard  to  Jan.  So  the  father  left  his  Sunday 
suit  to  Pieter,  the  three-cornered  hat  to  Evert, 
the  gun  to  Nicholas,  the  linen-chest  to  Tryntje. 
Through  these  wills  heirlooms  can  be  traced  in 
families  for  several  generations.  When  a man  died 
insolvent,  his  widow  could  relieve  herself  from  the 
claims  of  creditors  by  relinquishing  the  right  of  in- 
heritance. This  was  done  in  legal  form,  when  the 
wife  declared  that  she  “ kicked  the  estate  away  with 
the  foot,  and  laid  the  key  on  the  coffin.” 

The  festivals  observed  by  the  Dutch  were  Ker- 
stydt  — Christmas  ; Nieuw  Jar  — New  Year’s  Day  ; 
Pinxter  — Whitsuntide  ; Paas  — Passover  ; and 
Saint  Nicholas  Day.  For  two  or  three  weeks  after 
Christmas  the  burghers  and  their  families  spent 
much  of  their  time  in  firing  guns,  beating  drums, 
dancing,  card-playing,  playing  at  bowls  or  nine-pins, 
and  in  drinking  beer.  The  public  offices  were 
closed  during  these  holidays.  “ Whereas,”  says  the 
record  of  the  burgomasters  and  schepens,  “ the  win- 
ter festivities  are  at  hand,  it  is  found  good  that  be- 
tween this  day  and  three  weeks  after  Christmas  the 


152 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


ordinary  meetings  of  the  court  shall  be  dispensed 
with.”  May  Day  was  observed  so  boisterously  that 
the  burgomasters  provided  that  damage  done  to 
property  during  its  celebration  should  be  reported 
to  them,  and  reparation  would  be  made.  There 
was  always  a contest  between  the  rigid  director  at 
the  fort  and  the  complaisant  magistrates  at  the 
Stadt  Huys  as  to  the  toleration  of  these  public 
amusements.  On  one  occasion  Stuyvesant  pro- 
claimed : “ Whereas  experience  has  taught  us  that 
on  New  Year’s  days  and  on  May  days  from  the 
firing  of  guns,  the  planting  of  May-poles,  and 
drunken  drinking  there  have  resulted  unnecessary 
waste  of  powder  and  much  intoxication,  with  the 
bad  practices  and  accidents  which  generally  arise 
therefrom  : therefore  we  expressly  forbid  on  New 
Year  and  May  days  any  firing,  or  planting  of  May- 
poles,  or  beating  of  the  drum ; nor  shall  there  be 
at  those  times  any  wines,  brandy,  or  beers  dealt 
out.”  This  order  may  have  modified,  but  it  did 
not  suppress,  the  popular  ebullition  of  spirits.  There 
was  a game  called  “ Pulling  the  Goose,”  introduced 
at  New  Amsterdam  in  1654.  A goose  with  head 
and  neck  smeared  with  grease  was  suspended  be- 
tween two  poles.  Men  rode  at  full  gallop,  and 
tried  to  grasp  it  as  they  passed.  Stuyvesant  forbade 
this  game,  pronouncing  it  “ an  unprofitable,  heathen- 
ish, and  popish  festival,  and  a pernicious  custom.” 
Some  farmers  who  “pulled  the  goose”  after  the 
prohibition  were  fined  and  imprisoned,  “ in  order 
to  prevent  more  sins,  debaucheries,  and  calamities.” 
Against  this  severity  the  burgomasters  remonstrated. 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OP  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  1 53 


As  the  colony  grew  in  wealth  and  stability,  the 
amusements  of  the  people  became  more  refined. 
The  rougher  sports  were  replaced  by  ball  games, 
bowling,  and  cricket,  introduced  by  the  English. 
Shooting  and  fishing  were  much  in  favour.  The 
young  people  of  both  sexes  met  at  dancing-parties 
and  at  jaunts  in  boats,  wagons,  and  sleighs.  Mrs. 
Knight,  an  English  visitor,  in  1700,  says:  “Their 
diversion  in  winter  is  riding  in  sleighs  about  three 
miles  out  of  town,  where  they  have  houses  of  en- 
tertainment at  a place  called  the  Bowery ; and 
some  go  to  friends’  houses,  who  handsomely  treat 
them.  ...  I believe  we  met  fifty  or  sixty  sleighs 
one  day  ; they  fly  with  great  swiftness,  and  some 
are  so  furious  that  they  ’ll  turn  out  of  the  path  for 
none  except  a loaded  cart.  Nor  do  they  spare  for 
any  diversion  the  place  affords,  and  sociable  to  a 
degree,  their  tables  being  as  free  to  their  neighbours 
as  to  themselves.”  Among  the  wealthier  families 
chocolate  parties  were  much  in  vogue,  which  a 
domine  objected  to  as  keeping  people  up  till 
nine  o’clock  at  night. 

A great  deal  of  beer  was  consumed  in  New  Am- 
sterdam, and  several  of  the  richest  men  were 
brewers.  Stuyvesant  and  the  domines  had  to 
struggle  against  intemperance  and  its  consequences, 
which  they  did  very  earnestly.  The  traditional 
fondness  of  the  Dutch  for  smoking  seems  not  to 
have  been  exaggerated.  “ They  are  obstinate  and 
incessant  smokers,”  says  Wooley,  “ both  Indians 
and  Dutch,  — especially  the  latter,  whose  diet,  es- 
pecially of  the  boorish  sort,  being  sallets  and 


154 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


bacon  and  very  often  picked  buttermilk,  require 
the  use  of  that  herb  to  keep  their  phlegm  from 
coagulating  and  curdling.  I once  saw  a pretty 
instance,  relating  to  the  power  of  tobacco,  in  two 
Dutchmen  riding  a race  with  short  campaigne-pipes 
in  their  mouths,  — one  of  whom,  being  hurled  from 
his  steed,  as  soon  as  he  gathered  himself  up  again, 
whip’d  to  his  pipe,  and  fell  a-sucking  and  drawing, 
regarding  neither  his  horse  nor  fall,  as  if  the  prize 
consisted  in  getting  that  heat  which  came  from 
his  beloved  smoke.  Tobacco  is  two  pence  and  a 
half  a pound.” 

The  church  in  the  fort  was  the  only  Dutch 
Reformed  church  in  New  Amsterdam  during  Stuy- 
vesant’s  time.  The  first  religious  services  at  Man- 
hattan were  begun  in  1626,  in  the  room  over  the 
horse-mill.  When  Domine  Bogardus  arrived  in 
1633,  a plain  wooden  building  was  erected  on  the 
East  River,  near  Old  Slip,  with  a parsonage  for  the 
domine.  The  people  worshipped  here  until  1642, 
when,  at  the  suggestion  of  De  Vries,  the  stone 
church  in  the  fort  was  built.  This  building  re- 
mained in  use  until  1693,  when  it  had  become 
much  dilapidated,  and  the  congregation,  under 
Domine  Selyns,  gladly  removed  to  the  new  church 
in  Garden  Street,  now  Exchange  Place.  The  old 
edifice  in  the  fort  was  used  by  the  military  until 
1741,  when  it  was  burned.  The  site  remained  un- 
touched until  1790,  when  the  government  house 
was  built  upon  it.  Then  it  was  that  the  commem- 
orative stone  erected  by  Kieft  in  1642  was  dug 
up  and  placed  in  the  Garden  Street  church. 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OP  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  155 


Subscriptions  began  to  be  taken  up  for  the  new 
building  in  1689.  Many  persons  thought  Garden 
Street  was  too  far  up-town ; but  a piece  of  land 
there  was  finally  chosen  in  1690,  which  adjoined 
the  orchard  of  Domine  Drisius’s  widow.  The 
church  was  opened  in  1693,  having  cost  about 
^28,000.  It  was  an  oblong  building  with  a brick 
steeple.  The  windows  were  of  small  panes  set  in 
lead.  On  many  of  the  panes  were  the  coats-of- 
arms  of  elders  and  magistrates  engraved  thereon  by 
Gerard  Duyckinck.  There  were  also  painted  coats- 
of-arms  hung  on  the  walls.  Galleries  ran  along  the 
sides  ] in  them  sat  the  men,  with  the  women  below. 
The  interior  was  quite  plain ; the  seats  were  wood- 
en benches ; the  pulpit,  imported  from  Holland, 
stood  in  the  middle  of  the  end  opposite  the  door ; 
the  bell-rope  hung  down  in  the  middle  aisle. 

As  the  population  increased,  another  church  was 
built  on  Nassau  Street,  on  the  corner  of  Liberty 
Street.  It  was  of  stone,  with  a clock  in  the  tower ; 
and  there  the  true  Reformed  doctrines  were  preached 
far  into  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  surrounded 
by  trees  in  early  times,  and  looked  as  though  “ built 
in  a wood.”  The  Garden  Street  church  was  then 
called  the  Old  Church,  and  the  Nassau  Street  church 
the  New  Church.  When  another  was  built  at  the 
corner  of  Fulton  and  Williams  streets  it  was  called 
the  North,  that  in  Garden  Street  the  South,  and  that 
in  Nassau  Street  the  Middle  Church.  The  building 
in  Garden  Street  was  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of 
1835  ; that  in  Nassau  Street  was  pulled  down  in 
our  own  time ; prayer-meetings  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church  are  still  held  in  Fulton  Street. 


156 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


Religious  services  on  Manhattan  Island  were  first 
held  by  a schoolmaster  and  “ consoler  of  the  sick.” 
In  1633  the  first  domine  came  out,  Everardus  Bo- 
gardus,  who  served  the  people  faithfully  for  fourteen 
years,  resisted  the  tyranny  of  Kieft,  and  perished 
with  him  in  the  wreck  of  the  “ Princess  ” in  1647. 
Johannes  Backerus  succeeded  him  in  1648,  but  re- 
turned to  Holland  in  the  following  year.  His  de- 
parture left  Manhattan  without  a minister,  much  to 
the  discouragement  of  Stuyvesant.  At  this  juncture 
Domine  Johannes  Megapolensis,  who  had  served  at 
Rensselaervvyck  since  1642  as  minister  to  the  Dutch 
and  Indians,  arrived  at  New  Amsterdam  on  his  way 
to  Holland,  whither  his  wife  had  preceded  him. 
Stuyvesant  pictured  to  him  the  miserable  state  of 
the  people  without  a minister,  and  persuaded  him 
to  remain.  He  continued  to  be  the  leading  domine 
in  the  colony  until  his  death  in  1669.  The  famous 
Jesuit,  Father  Lemoyne,  visited  him  in  1658,  in 
order  to  convert  him  to  Romanism,  but  without 
success.  Megapolensis  had  a son  Samuel,  who  had 
been  taught  Latin  and  English  at  the  “ Academy  of 
New  England,”  in  Cambridge.  In  1658  Samuel 
went  to  Holland,  studied  for  five  years  at  Utrecht, 
and  was  ordained.  In  1664  he  came  out  to  Man- 
hattan, and  ministered  to  a parish  which  included 
Breukelen,  the  Waal-Bogt,  Gowanus,  and  Stu3we- 
sant’s  bowery.  But  after  five  years  he  wearied  of 
colonial  life,  and  returned  permanently  to  Holland. 

Samuel  Drisius  of  Leyden  arrived  in  1652.  He 
could  preach  in  Dutch,  English,  and  PTench,  and 
remained  for  twenty  years,  during  most  of  this  time 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OP  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  157 


acting  as  a colleague  of  Megapolensis.  Whilhelmus 
van  Nieuwenhuysen  officiated  from  1671  to  1681, 
and  Henricus  Selyns  from  1682  to  1701.  Although 
Selyns  began  his  ministrations  in  New  Amsterdam 
only  in  1682,  he  had  lived  for  a long  time  in  New 
Netherland,  In  1660  he  succeeded  Domine  Joh. 
Polhemus  at  the  parish  of  Breukelen,  which  included 
also  Midwout  (Flatbush),  Amersfoort  (Flatlands), 
and  the  Waal-Bogt.  The  population  of  Breukelen 
was  then  only  one  hundred  and  ninety-four  persons. 
When  Selyns  arrived  from  Holland,  Stuyvesant  de- 
puted Nicasius  de  Sille  and  Martin  Cregier  to  intro- 
duce him  to  his  parishioners,  and  invited  him  to 
preach  from  time  to  time  at  his  bowery.  In  1664 
Selyns  decided  not  to  live  under  the  English  rule, 
and  went  to  Holland.  But  the  call  to  the  New  Am- 
sterdam church  in  1682  brought  him  back,  and  he 
died  here  in  1701.  Among  those  who  were  influ- 
ential in  inducing  him  to  return  were  Stephanus  van 
Courtlandt,  Nicholas  Bayard,  Joh.  de  Peyster,  and 
Dr.  Joh.  Kerfbyl.  He  was  the  most  cultivated  and 
accomplished  of  the  domines. 

These  preachers  were  all  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church.  The  Lutherans  only  succeeded  in  forming 
a congregation  toward  the  end  of  Stuyvesant’s  rule, 
and  many  years  passed  before  it  became  consider- 
able in  numbers.  Megapolensis  and  Drisius  gave  a 
vigorous  support  to  Stuyvesant’s  attempt  to  suppress 
the  Lutherans,  and  were  never  on  cordial  terms  with 
their  minister.  Megapolensis  accompanied  Stuyve- 
sant to  the  South  River  in  1655,  and  preached  the 
Thanksgiving  sermon  at  the  taking  of  Fort  Casimir. 


158 


PETER  STUYVESANT 


He  then  thought  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  capitula- 
tion too  easy,  because  they  allowed  the  Lutheran 
minister  to  continue  to  preach.  This  antagonism 
animated  his  successors  also.  The  Rev.  Charles 
Wooley,  who  was  rector  of  the  English  church,  now 
Trinity,  in  1679,  relates  the  following  anecdote  ; 

“ In  the  city  of  New  York,  where  I was  minister 
to  the  English,  there  were  two  other  ministers,  or 
domines  as  they  were  called  there,  — the  one  a 
Lutheran,  a German  or  High  Dutch ; the  other 
a Calvinist,  an  Hollander  or  Low  Dutchman,  — 
who  behaved  themselves  one  toward  another  so 
shily  and  uncharitably  as  if  Luther  and  Calvin  had 
bequeathed  and  entailed  their  virulent  and  bigoted 
spirits  upon  them  and  their  heirs  forever.  They 
had  not  visited  or  spoken  to  each  other  with  any 
respect  for  six  years  together  before  my  being  there  ; 
with  whom  I being  much  acquainted,  I invited  them 
both,  with  their  vrows,  to  a supper  one  night,  un- 
known to  each  other,  with  an  obligation  that  they 
should  not  speak  one  word  in  Dutch,  under  the 
penalty  of  a bottle  of  Madeira,  alleging  I was  so  im- 
perfect in  that  language  that  we  could  not  manage 
a sociable  discourse.  So  accordingly  they  came; 
and  at  the  first  interview  they  stood  so  appalled  as 
if  the  ghosts  of  Luther  and  Calvin  had  suffered  a 
transmigration.  But  the  amaze  soon  went  off  with  a 
salve  tu  qiioque  and  a bottle  of  wine,  of  which  the 
Calvinist  dominc  was  a true  carouser ; and  so  we 
continued  our  menzalia,  the  whole  meeting  in  Latin, 
which  they  spoke  so  fluently  and  promptly  that  I 
blushed  at  myself  with  a passionate  regret  that  I 
could  not  keep  pace  with  them.” 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  I 59 


Claes  van  Elslant  was  the  first  sexton  of  the 
church  in  the  fort.  After  him  came  Jan  de  la 
Montagne,  who  had  a son  Jan  who  was  sexton  of 
the  Garden  Street  church.  A third  Jan,  a son  of 
the  preceding,  succeeded  his  father.  Egbert  Ben- 
son, when  a boy  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  saw  the  third  Jan  de  la  Montagne  going 
his  rounds  to  collect  the  “ Domine’s  gelt.”  The 
Dutch  were  careful  to  pay  their  minister  promptly,  so 
that  he  should  not  need  to  “ desire  a gift.” 

Sunday  was  not  observed  in  New  Amsterdam  with 
anything  like  the  strictness  of  New  England.  Still, 
the  day  was  kept  with  respect.  Stuyvesant  would 
tolerate  no  selling  of  beer  or  disorder  on  Sundays, 
and  treated  the  offenders  with  great  severity.  In 
this  he  was  supported  by  the  burgomasters  and 
schepens.  Albert  the  Trumpeter  had  to  answer  to 
the  magistrates  for  being  found  on  Sunday  with  an 
axe  on  his  shoulder ; he  excused  himself  on  the 
ground  that  he  only  intended  to  cut  a bat  for  his 
little  boy.  Fishing,  fowling,  gathering  nuts  or 
strawberries,  the  playing  of  children  in  the  streets, 
were  forbidden  on  Sundays.  Dancing,  playing  ball, 
cards,  tric-trac,  tennis,  cricket,  nine-pins,  and  plea- 
sure parties  were  not  allowed  before  or  during  di- 
vine service.  It  was  a day  of  relaxation,  however, 
when  the  people  put  on  their  best  clothes  (which 
were  used  at  no  other  time)  and  enjoyed  a respite 
from  toil. 

As  the  occasions  for  social  reunion  were  few, 
marriages  were  made  much  of,  and  furnished  the 
opportunity  for  the  display  of  silver,  pewter,  or 


l6o  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

china,  and  the  best  clothing.  The  publication  of 
banns  at  the  church  was  necessary,  and  run-away 
or  impatient  couples  had  to  go  down  to  Lady 
Moody’s  settlement  at  “ Gravenzande,”  where  there 
were  no  such  restrictions.  At  both  weddings  and 
funerals  it  was  customary  to  load  the  dining-table 
with  the  best  dishes,  wine,  or  beer  which  the  family 
could  afford.  At  funerals  a pewter  or  silver  tankard 
was  passed  around  filled  with  hot  wine. 

In  Holland  the  church  was  an  essential  part  of 
the  government,  and  it  was  not  less  so  regarded  in 
New  Netherland.  It  was  as  much  the  duty  of  the 
West  India  Company  to  keep  the  colony  supplied 
with  a domine  as  with  a director.  And  the  domines 
were  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  social  order. 
They  were  a mediation  between  the  authorities  and 
the  people,  — a restraint  on  the  one  hand  to  tyranny, 
on  the  other  to  rebellion.  Upon  them  the  burgo- 
masters’ court  frequently  relied  to  reconcile  husband 
and  wife,  or  to  reform  the  youthful  evil-doer. 

Not  less  inseparately  connected  than  the  church 
with  the  Dutch  idea  of  government  was  the  school. 
The  church  and  the  school  belonged  to  each  other 
and  to  the  civil  authority.  The  appointment  of 
domines  and  schoolmasters  rested  conjointly  with 
the  Company  and  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam.  When 
Domine  Bogardus  came  out  in  1633,  there  accom- 
panied him  Adam  Roelandsen,  the  first  schoolmas- 
ter. He  taught  the  children  until  1 639,  when  he 
resigned  and  went  to  Rensselaerwyck.  Jan  Corne- 
lissen,  a carpenter  living  there,  heard  of  the  vacant 
post,  and  coming  down  to  New  Amsterdam  secured 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  l6l 


it.  He  taught  until  1650.  Roelandsen  had  a school- 
room assigned  to  him ; Cornelissen  received  his 
pupils  in  the  house  in  which  he  lived.  In  1647, 
when  Domine  Backerus  returned  to  Holland,  Stuy- 
vesant  sent  by  him  a message  to  the  Classis  of 
Amsterdam  asking  for  “ a pious,  well-qualified,  and 
diligent  schoolmaster.”  William  Vestens  was  sent 
in  answer  to  this  appeal,  arriving  in  1650  in  the 
same  ship  with  Domine  Megapolensis’s  wife.  Ves- 
tens continued  in  office  for  five  years,  the  school 
being  held  in  a hired  room.  During  this  period 
he  was  the  principal  teacher ; but  there  being  more 
scholars  than  he  could  well  take  care  of,  Jan  de  la 
Montagne  was  appointed  a second  teacher,  and  a 
room  in  the  tavern  was  assigned  to  him.  A school- 
house  was  then  built,  and  at  the  same  time  Vestens 
was  succeeded  by  Harmanus  van  Hoboocken.  The 
school  was  soon  after  burned,  and  Hoboocken  was 
allowed  one  hundred  guilders  annually  to  hire  new 
accommodations,  “ as  the  town  youth  are  doing  so 
uncommonly  well  now.”  In  1661  Hoboocken  was 
transferred  to  Stuyvesant’s  bowery,  to  teach  the 
children  of  settlers  in  that  growing  quarter.  Evert 
Pietersen  then  became  the  schoolmaster  at  New 
Amsterdam,  living  and  teaching  in  the  Brouwer 
Straat.  The  school  with  difficulty  founded  and 
maintained  through  the  early  years  of  the  settle- 
ment was  continued  by  the  Collegiate  Dutch  Church 
after  the  English  possession.  There  the  Dutch 
youth  were  educated  for  many  years  in  their  native 
language  only,  later  in  both  English  and  Dutch. 
The  school,  like  the  church,  still  exists  and  flourishes 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


162 

in  New  York ; they  are  bound  together  by  the  old 
ties,  and  look  back  upon  an  honourable  and  inter- 
esting history. 

While  this  was  the  official  free  school,  maintained 
by  Church  and  State,  there  were  also  private  schools 
in  New  Amsterdam.  Licenses  for  the  teachers  of 
these  were  issued  before  1664  to  Jan  Stevensen, 
Aryaen  Jansen,  Andries  Hudde,  Jacob  van  Corlaer, 
Jan  Lubberts,  Joost  Carelse,  Adriaen  van  Ilpendam, 
Juriaense  Becker,  and  Johannes  van  Gelaer. 

In  1658  a general  desire  was  felt  for  a high  or 
classical  school,  which  would  carry  the  youth  beyond 
the  rudiments  of  education.  Accordingly  the  bur- 
gomasters and  schepens  thus  petitioned  the  West 
India  Company  : “ It  is  represented  that  the  youth 
of  this  place  and  the  neighbourhood  are  increasing 
in  number  gradually,  and  that  most  of  them  can  read 
and  write,  but  that  some  of  the  citizens  and  inhab- 
itants would  like  to  send  their  children  to  a school 
the  principal  of  which  understands  Latin,  but  are 
not  able  to  do  so  without  sending  them  to  New 
England ; furthermore,  they  have  not  the  means  to 
hire  a Latin  schoolmaster  expressly  for  themselves 
from  New  England,  and  therefore  they  ask  that  the 
West  India  Company  will  send  out  a fit  person  as 
Latin  schoolmaster,  — not  doubting  that  the  number 
of  persons  who  will  send  their  children  to  such  a 
teacher  will  from  year  to  year  increase,  until  an 
academy  shall  be  formed  whereby  this  place  to  great 
splendour  will  have  attained,  for  which,  next  to  God, 
the  Honourable  Company  which  shall  have  sent  such 
teacher  here  shall  have  laud  and  praise.  For  our 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  1 63 

own  part,  we  shall  endeavour  to  find  a fit  place  in 
which  the  schoolmaster  shall  hold  his  school.”  The 
petition  was  granted,  and  in  1659  Dr.  Alexander 
Carolus  Curtius,  of  Lithuania,  arrived  in  New  Am- 
sterdam. The  burgomasters  gave  him  the  use  of 
a house  and  garden,  promised  him  a salary  of  five 
hundred  guilders,  and  allowed  him  to  charge  each 
scholar  a fee  of  six  guilders  per  quarter.  Curtius 
turned  out  to  be  not  a fit  person  for  the  place. 
Parents  complained  that  he  could  keep  no  order 
among  the  pupils,  who  “beat  each  other  and  tore 
the  clothes  from  each  other’s  backs.”  Curtius  ex- 
cused the  lack  of  discipline  on  the  ground  that  “ his 
hands  were  tied,  as  some  of  the  parents  forbade 
him  punishing  their  children.”  He  overcharged 
some  scholars  by  asking  from  them  a whole  beaver- 
skin  per  quarter.  The  discontent  with  his  services 
sent  Curtius  back  to  Holland.  The  Rev.  Higidius 
Luyck,  who  had  been  tutor  to  Stuyvesant’s  sons,  was 
then  appointed  principal,  and  under  his  care  the 
academy  succeeded  admirably,  — students  attend- 
ing it  from  Virginia,  the  South  River,  and  Rens- 
selaerwyck,  as  well  as  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
New  Amsterdam. 

The  first  educated  physician  who  practised  in 
New  Amsterdam  was  Dr.  Hans  Kierstede,  who 
lived  on  the  East  River,  near  the  foot  of  Whitehall 
Street.  Samuel  Megapolensis,  the  domine’s  son, 
added  the  practice  of  medicine  to  his  spiritual 
duties  while  he  lived  in  the  colony.  Other  phy- 
sicians were  Johannes  de  la  Montagne,  Johannes 
Kerfbyl,  — a graduate  of  Leyden,  — Jacob  Bloeck, 


1 64  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

Samuel  Coster,  and  two  or  three  of  lesser  fame.  In 
1652  the  profession  petitioned  the  director  and 
Council  that  none  but  surgeons  should  be  allowed 
to  shave  people.  After  weighty  consideration,  the 
Council  gave  the  following  answer  : — 

“ That  shaving  doth  not  appertain  exclusively  to 
chirurgery,  but  is  only  an  appanage  thereof.  That 
no  man  can  be  prevented  from  operating  herein 
upon  himself,  or  doing  another  this  friendly  act, 
provided  that  it  be  through  courtesy,  and  that  he 
do  not  receive  any  money  for  it,  and  do  not  keep 
any  open  shop  of  that  sort,  wh.ch  is  hereby  forbidden, 
declaring,  in  regard  to  the  last  request,  this  act  to 
belong  to  chirurgery’  and  the  health  of  man.” 

The  medical  profession,  like  other  skilled  occu- 
pations, increased  very  much  in  importance  to- 
ward the  end  of  the  century,  when  there  was 
wealth  enough  in  the  colony  to  attract  well-trained 
men  from  Holland. 

Only  a portion  of  the  early  Dutch  settlers  had 
family  names.  It  was  at  about  this  time  that  such 
names  were  becoming  fixed  and  hereditary.  There 
were  three  ways  in  which,  commonly,  family  names 
were  attained.  The  first  and  most  usual  was  the 
attachment  of  se7i  or  se  (a  termination  meaning 
son')  to  the  father’s  Christian  name : thus.  Evert 
Pietersen  and  Frederic  Philipse.  To 'signify  a 
daughter  the  termination  s was  used  : thus,  An- 
netje  Jans,  Tryntje  Everts.  If  we  take,  for  ex- 
ample, a man  named  Jan : his  son  Hendrick,  to 
distinguish  himself  from  other  Hendricks,  calls 
himself  Hendrick  Jansen ; his  son  again  is  called 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  1 65 

Evert  Hendricksen ; his  son  Tennis  Evertsen ; his 
son  Willem  Teunissen.  Thus  the  second  name  va- 
ried from  generation  to  generation.  Gradually  the 
second  name  became  hereditary,  and  Hendrick 
Jansen’s  children  were  called  Jansen  instead  of 
Hendricksen. 

Another  method  of  fixing  a family  name  was  by 
the  father’s  trade.  Thus,  the  brewer  Willem  Hen- 
dricksen was  called  Willem  Brouwer;  Jan  Willem- 
sen  the  bleacher  was  called  Jan  Bleecker.  In  the 
same  way  originated  the  names  of  Coster,  Schoon- 
macker,  Stryker,  Dyckman,  and  Hofman. 

A third  derivation  of  names  was  that  from  places 
of  origin.  When  Oloff  Stevensen  van  Courtlandt 
first  came  out  to  New  Amsterdam  as  a soldier,  he 
was  known  as  Oloff  Stevensen,  and  so  signed  his 
name  to  the  protest  carried  by  Van  der  Donck  to 
the  States-General.  As  he  became  a leading  man, 
he  distinguished  himself  from  other  Stevensens  by 
adding  van  Courtlandt  — the  town  of  his  birth  — 
to  his  name ; his  descendants  continued  the  custom, 
and  so  it  became  the  family  appellation.  Other 
names  of  similar  origin  are  Van  Bergen,  Van 
Antwerp,  Van  der  Veer  (Ferry),  Verplanck  (of  the 
plank- walk).  Ten  Eyck  (at  the  oak).  Ten  Broeck  (at 
the  marsh,)  Opdyck  (on  the  dyke),  and  Wyckoff 
(parish-court).  Some  of  these  names  had  been 
borne  in  Holland ; many  became  hereditary  first 
in  New  Netherland. 

Augustyn  Heermans,  who  made  a good  sketch  of 
the  city  of  New  Amsterdam  as  it  appeared  from  the 
East  River,  was  the  only  artist  whose  work  survives. 


l66  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

But  three  Dutchmen  wrote  poetry  in  their  native 
language,  which  may  still  be  read.  Jacob  Steendam 
composed  a “ Complaint  of  New  Amsterdam  ” 
and  “ The  Praise  of  New  Netherland,”  dedicated 
to  the  Hon.  Cornelis  van  Ruyven,  secretary  of  the 
West  India  Company,  — “a  faithful  and  very  up- 
right promoter  of  New  Netherland.”  The  next 
poet  was  Nicasius  de  Sille.  He  was  a member  of 
Stuyvesant’s  Council  and  an  educated  man.  In 
1656  he  succeeded  Van  Tienhoven  as  fiscal,  and 
afterward  held  the  office  of  schout.  In  1657  he 
built  a house  at  New  Utrecht,  L.  I.,  where  he 
afterward  lived.  This  house  was  of  stone,  roofed 
with  large  Dutch  tiles,  and  originally  protected  by 
palisades.  In  1850  this  house  was  still  standing, 
and  formed  a comfortable  dwelling.  In  front  of 
it  stood  a great  tree,  which  had  probably  shaded 
De  Sille  himself.  He  kept  the  records  of  New 
Utrecht  in  good  language  and  handwriting.  One 
of  his  daughters  married  Hendrick  Kip,  and  an- 
other Gerritse  van  Couwenhoven  of  Breukelen. 
He  composed  “Imitations  of  the  Psalms,”  an 
“ Epitaph  on  a Cortelyou  Child,”  — the  first  bom 
in  New  Utrecht, — and  “The  Earth  speaks  to  its 
Cultivators.”  The  third  poet  was  the  good  Domine 
Henricus  Selyns.  The  subjects  which  inspired  him 
were : “ Nuptial  Song  for  ^gidius  Luyck  and 
Judith  van  Isendoorn  ; ” “Birthday  Garland  woven 
in  Honour  of  Matilda  Specht ; ” “To  my  Friend, 
Captain  Gerard  Douw ; ” “ Epitaph  on  Domine 
Johannes  Megapolensis ; ” “ Epitaph  for  Madam 
Anna  Loockermans,  widow  of  Oloff  Stevensen  van 


SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  167 


Courtlandt ; ” “ Epitaph  for  P.  Stuyvesant ; ” “ Rea- 
sons for  and  against  marrying  Widows.” 

There  was  no  lack  of  good  food  in  New  Am- 
sterdam in  time  of  peace.  Game  was  shot  in  plenty 
by  the  young  men,  and  brought  to  town  in  canoes 
by  the  Indians.  Deer  were  very  numerous  : an  In- 
dian would  sell  a fat  buck  for  five  guilders ; in  some 
seasons  a pipe  would  buy  one.  Bears,  elk,  hares, 
and  rabbits  abounded.  Close  at  hand  were  quail, 
partridges,  and  wild  turkeys ; of  the  latter  De  Vries 
shot  one  weighing  thirty  pounds.  Along  the  shores 
of  the  rivers  and  harbour  fluttered  and  swam  great 
numbers  of  wild  geese,  ducks,  and  swans.  Van  der 
Donck  knew  a gunner,  named  Hendrick  de  Backer, 
who  killed  eleven  gray  geese  out  of  a large  flock  at 
one  shot  from  his  gun.  The  waters  in  the  vicinity 
of  Manhattan  Island  furnished  sturgeon,  salmon, 
bass,  shad,  drum,  smelts,  cod,  sheepshead,  herring, 
mackerel,  black-fish,  lobsters,  weakfish,  oysters,  and 
shrimps.  Nor  did  the  terrapin  swim  unappreciated. 
“Some  persons,”  wrote  Van  der  Donck  in  1656, 
“ prepare  delicious  dishes  from  the  water  terrapin, 
which  is  luscious  food.” 

The  gardens  of  New  Netherland  produced  lettuce, 
cabbages,  parsnips,  carrots,  beets,  spinach,  radishes, 
parsley,  cresses,  onions,  leeks,  artichokes,  asparagus, 
squashes,  melons,  cucumbers,  and  beans.  On  the 
farms  were  cows,  goats,  sheep,  and  hogs.  Horses 
were  bred  and  used ; but  oxen  did  the  farm  work. 
The  native  grasses  were  mixed  with  the  wild  onion, 
which  gave  its  taste  to  the  milk.  A great  deal  of 
tobacco  was  raised,  which  ranked  next  to  that  of 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


1 68 

Virginia.  But  the  crops  most  cultivated  were  wheat, 
rye,  barley,  and  corn.  The  latter  was  grown  in  hills 
with  pumpkin-vines,  as  at  present.  The  rye  grew  so 
tail  that  a man  could  bind  the  ears  together  above 
his  head.  Van  der  Donck  saw  a field  of  barley, 
of  which  the  stems  were  seven  feet  high.  The  soil 
seemed  inexhaustible.  Domine  Megapolensis  stated 
that  a farmer  had  raised  fine  crops  of  wheat  on  the 
same  field  for  eleven  years  in  succession. 

It  was  when  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  looked 
for  profit  to  the  land  rather  than  to  the  forest,  that 
wealth  flowed  in  upon  them.  At  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury the  colony  was  celebrated  more  for  its  grain 
than  for  its  beaver-skins ; then  the  trader  and  the 
farmer,  working  together,  laid  the  foundations  of  a 
great  prosperity. 


NEW  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK.  169 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NEW  NETHERLAND  BECOMES  NEW  YORK. 

During  the  last  few  years  of  Stuyvcsant’s  admin- 
istration the  Dutch  colonists  prospered,  good  order 
prevailed,  and  immigration  steadily  increased.  Ex- 
cept for  the  Indian  war  at  Esopus,  nothing  occurred 
to  interrupt  the  growing  activity  of  the  settlement. 
But  although  the  people  were  contented  and  pros- 
perous, the  director  had  cause  for  ceaseless  anxiety 
and  exertion.  The  encroachments  of  the  English 
were  menacing  the  very  existence  of  New  Nether- 
land  as  a Dutch  colony.  On  the  South  or  Delaware 
River,  the  “ crowding  out  ” policy  was  being 
pursued  with  little  disguise.  The  English  there 
claimed  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  territory  under 
Lord  Baltimore’s  patent.  Stuyvesant  sent  Wilhelm 
Beeckman  to  defend  the  Dutch  rights  and  direct 
the  affairs  of  the  colony.  Matters  not  improving, 
Cornelis  van  Ruyven  went  to  the  assistance  of 
Beeckman,  accompanied  by  Captain  Martin  Cregier 
and  sixty  soldiers.  Later  on,  the  director  appointed 
Resolved  Waldron  and  Augustyn  Heermans  as  com- 
missioners to  negotiate  with  the  English  authorities. 
They  presented  the  Dutch  claims  so  forcibly  that 
further  English  aggression  was  postponed  until  1664. 


170  PETER  STUYVESANT. 

New  England  gave  the  director  still  greater  cause 
for  apprehension.  Massachusetts  set  up  the  claim 
that  her  territory  extended  indefinitely  westw’ard, 
and  so  claimed  the  northern  Hudson.  Connecticut 
did  more.  In  1662  John  Winthrop  obtained  in 
London  a new  patent  from  Charles  II.,  which  made 
Connecticut,  like  Massachusetts,  extend  indefinitely 
westward  and  include  all  northern  New  Netherland. 
In  Westchester  and  on  Long  Island,  English  settlers 
were  increasing  much  faster  than  the  Dutch,  and 
their  towns  were  becoming  restive  under  Dutch 
jurisdiction.  Against  this  accumulation  of  threat- 
ened disaster  Stuyvesant  laboured  earnestly  but  with 
little  effect.  He  made  a visit  to  Boston  in  person 
and  conferred  with  representatives  of  the  United 
New  England  colonies.  But  all  his  efforts  were 
checkmated  by  the  English  policy  of  delay.  While 
the  director  was  thus  pressed  from  the  East  and  the 
South  by  harassing  aggressions,  and  had  the  Esopus 
war  on  his  hands,  the  Long  Island  English  towns 
revolted  under  John  Scott  and  repudiated  Dutch 
authority. 

Stuyvesant  had  to  struggle  on  alone.  In  1660 
he  had  written  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  of  the 
West  India  Company  : “ Place  no  confidence  in  the 
weakness  of  the  English  government  and  its  indis- 
position to  interfere  in  affairs  here.  New  England 
does  not  care  much  about  its  troubles  and  does  not 
want  its  aid.  Her  people  are  fully  convinced  that 
their  power  overbalances  ours  tenfold ; and  it  is  to 
be  apprehended  that  they  may  make  further  attempts 
at  this  opportunity  without  fearing  or  caring  for  home 


NEW  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK.  171 

interference.”  While  New  England  needed  no  help 
from  the  mother  country,  Stuyvesant  could  get  none. 
The  West  India  Company  was  unable  to  send  mili- 
tary assistance,  and  the  subtle  character  of  English 
aggression  was  of  a sort  difficult  to  make,  through 
the  States-General,  a national  grievance. 

A treaty  of  peace  between  England  and  Holland 
had  been  signed  at  Westminster  in  1662.  But 
Charles  II.  hated  the  Netherlands ; he  had  his  rea- 
sons for  wishing  to  conciliate  New  England  ; and  he 
had  the  fortune  of  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  to 
make.  Hence  in  March,  1664,  he  granted  to  the 
Duke  of  York  all  the  territory  between  the  Con- 
necticut River  and  Delaware  Bay,  the  exact  boun- 
daries of  New  Netherland.  The  grant  was  kept 
secret,  and  nothing  was  heard  of  it  in  Old  or  New 
Amsterdam. 

In  April,  1664,  a fleet  of  four  ships  sailed  for 
New  England  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Richard  Nicholls,  carrying  three  hundred  and  fifty 
soldiers.  This  news  was  brought  to  Stuyvesant  in 
July  by  Captain  John  Willett.  The  director  divined 
the  object  of  the  fleet,  and  feared  that  his  worst 
predictions  were  about  to  be  realized.  All  his 
energies  were  immediately  devoted  to  preparations 
for  defence.  But  the  same  news  had  reached 
Holland  long  before.  The  West  India  Company 
had  made  inquiries  in  London,  had  been  informed 
that  the  expedition  was  intended  only  to  enforce 
certain  of  the  king’s  wishes  in  New  England,  and 
the  directors  wrote  to  Stuyvesant  that  he  had  noth- 
ing to  fear.  Thus  thrown  off  his  guard,  Stu}wesant 


172 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


went  up  to  Fort  Orange  to  conduct  negotiations 
with  the  Mohawk  Indians.  The  English  fleet  ar- 
rived in  Boston  Harbour,  remained  there  inactive 
for  a month,  and  all  seemed  safe. 

One  day  toward  the  end  of  August  the  English 
flagship  was  seen  sailing  into  the  lower  bay.  Stuy- 
vesant  was  informed,  and  hurried  down  from  Fort 
Orange.  One  by  one  the  other  ships  of  the  hostile 
fleet  came  to  anchor  in  the  Narrows  with  reinforce- 
ments of  men  from  New  England.  The  enemy 
made  no  secret  of  its  mission.  A fort  on  Staten 
Island  was  taken  immediately.  Soldiers  were  landed 
on  the  Long  Island  shore,  and  the  inhabitants  were 
warned  not  to  send  supplies  or  assistance  to  the 
town.  Stuyvesant  threw  himself  into  the  work  of 
defence  with  all  his  wonted  vigour.  All  able-bodied 
men  were  put  to  work  on  the  fortiflcations  or  en- 
rolled as  soldiers  ; new  guns  were  mounted,  and  the 
shores  patrolled.  But  with  all  this  effort,  the  result 
could  be  slight.  The  town  lay  unprotected  except 
for  the  poor  fort  at  the  Battery.  There  were  guns, 
but  of  powder  hardly  sufficient  for  a day’s  cannon- 
ade. On  the  north  the  only  defence  was  an  earthen 
rampart  three  feet  high,  surmounted  by  the  old  rot- 
ten palisade  which  had  done  duty  in  the  Indian 
wars.  From  the  hills  beyond  it  cannon  could  com- 
mand the  whole  town.  On  the  east  and  west  the 
hostile  ships  could  sail  up  and  down,  pouring  in  un- 
answered broadsides.  Stuy\-esant,  however,  was  hot 
for  the  fight. 

On  Friday,  August  29,  he  sent  a messenger  to 
Nicholls,  demanding  to  know  the  meaning  of  his 


/ 


NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK.  1 73 


invasion.  The  answer,  couched  in  friendly  language, 
was  a summons  to  surrender  the  town,  with  a prom- 
ise of  protection  and  fair  treatment  to  all  who  sub- 
mitted like  good  subjects  to  the  authority  of  Charles 
II.  The  director  read  this  communication  to  his 
Council  and  the  assembled  magistrates.  His  labours 
to  provide  means  of  defence  had  been  ill  supported. 
The  Long  Island  farmers  refused  to  come  in,  on  the 
ground  that  they  had  their  own  property  to  defend. 
The  townspeople  were  persuaded  that  resistance  was 
useless,  and  their  work  was  half-hearted.  Stuyvesant 
was  anxious  to  keep  the  summons  secret,  lest  its 
favourable  terms  should  incline  the  people  to  yield. 
But  he  was  overruled  by  the  Council  and  the  burgo- 
masters. They  were  resolved  not  to  have  their  houses 
knocked  about  their  ears  to  preserve  the  interests 
of  the  West  India  Company.  They  insisted  on 
making  public  the  contents  of  Nicholls’s  letter, 
and  the  director  had  to  give  way,  saying  that  he 
would  not  hold  himself  “ answerable  for  the  ca- 
lamitous consequences.” 

The  evident  intention  to  accomplish  their  objects 
as  peacefully  as  possible  helped  the  English  cause 
very  much.  On  Monday,  Winthrop,  who  guided 
the  policy  of  the  invaders,  came  up  the  Bay  under 
a flag  of  truce,  bearing  another  summons  yet  more 
attractive  in  its  terms.  There  was  to  be  no  change 
but  that  of  the  flag  and  the  governor.  The  Dutch 
were  to  trade  with  Holland  as  before,  Dutch  prop- 
erty was  to  be  inviolate,  and  immigration  from 
Holland  to  continue.  When  this  communication  was 
read  in  the  council-chamber  at  the  fort,  Stuyvesant 


174 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


saw  in  it  a death-knell  to  his  plans.  The  people, 
with  the  consequences  of  a bombardment  in  their 
minds,  seeing  no  prospect  but  bloodshed,  fire,  and 
the  destruction  of  homes  acquired  by  long  and 
painful  toil,  were  already  nearly  unanimous  for  sur- 
render on  any  favourable  terms.  The  soldiers  were 
becoming  mutinous,  and  were  heard  talking  of 
booty  and  where  the  young  women  lived  who  wore 
gold  chains.  Stuyvesant  felt  that  the  only  way  to 
make  his  people  fight  was  to  give  them  no  other 
alternative.  Hence,  he  announced  in  Council  that 
the  letter  must  be  kept  secret ; but  the  councillors, 
the  burgomasters,  and  schepens,  knowing  that  de- 
feat was  certain  in  the  end,  and  wishing  to  presen-e 
life  and  property,  contended  that  the  public  had  a 
right  to  know  what  the  English  proposed.  A hot 
debate  ensued,  in  which  the  director  maintained 
his  point  with  his  customary  violence.  At  last 
Stuyvesant,  finding  that  all  were  against  him,  char- 
acteristically settled  the  question  by  tearing  the 
letter  into  small  pieces,  and  throwing  them  pas- 
sionately on  the  floor.  The  meeting  broke  up  in 
confusion,  and  its  members  carried  into  the  town 
information  of  what  had  occurred.  The  people  be- 
came angry  and  rebellious,  work  on  the  fort  ceased ; 
a large  crowd  gathered  in  front  of  the  Stadt  Huys 
clamouring  for  Stuyvesant  and  the  letter.  The  di- 
rector appeared,  harangued  the  people,  and  sought 
to  inspire  in  them  some  of  his  own  patriotic  deter- 
mination ; but  they  continued  to  call  for  the  letter, 
and  denounced  him  and  the  West  India  Company  as 
indifferent  to  their  interests.  Stuy\’esant  returned 


JV£fV  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK.  175 


mournfully  to  the  fort.  The  fragments  of  the  letter 
were  gathered  up  by  a secretary,  pieced  together, 
and  delivered  to  the  burgomasters.  A copy  was 
then  made,  which  was  read  from  the  steps  of  the 
Stadt  Huys.  Meanwhile,  Stuyvesant  retired  to  his 
own  house  to  compose  his  answer.  He  demon- 
strated the  title  of  the  Dutch  to  New  Netherland 
by  discovery,  settlement,  and  possession;  he  de- 
nounced the  violation  of  English  and  Dutch  treaties 
by  the  present  invasion ; he  concluded  by  defying 
the  English,  and  by  declaring  his  trust  to  be  in  God, 
who  could  give  victory  to  the  weak  over  the  strong. 

On  receipt  of  this  communication.  Colonel  Nich- 
olls  made  his  preparations  for  an  assault.  Soldiers 
were  landed  on  Long  Island,  and  marched  toward 
Breukelen.  The  war-ships  were  anchored  off  the 
fort,  with  their  guns  trained  on  the  town.  Stuyvesant 
stood  gloomily  beside  a gun  on  the  ramparts ; his 
situation  was  desperate,  and  he  could  expect  no 
better  issue  than  death  at  his  post.  From  time  to 
time  came  Domine  Megapolensis,  members  of  the 
Council,  the  burgomasters  and  schepens,  begging 
him  not  to  make  a useless  sacrifice  of  the  town. 
After  some  hours,  the  director  went  down  to  the 
shore  with  one  hundred  soldiers,  prepared  to  oppose 
a landing.  Thus  matters  remained  all  day,  neither 
side  being  desirous  of  firing  the  first  shot.  Then 
Stuyvesant  sent  another  letter  to  Nicholls,  his  tone 
still  defiant ; but  he  despatched  commissioners  with 
it,  whom  he  hoped  might  gain  some  advantage. 
But  the  commissioners  returned  with  the  final  answer 
that  the  terms  could  not  be  changed,  and  that  the 


176 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


only  choice  lay  between  their  acceptance  and  bom- 
bardment. When  this  became  known,  the  people 
crowded  about  the  director  clamouring  for  sur- 
render. A remonstrance  against  resistance  was 
handed  to  him,  signed  by  all  the  principal  burghers, 
including  his  son  Balthazar.  Stuyvesant  declared 
that  he  would  rather  be  carried  a corpse  to  his  grave 
than  to  surrender ; but  there  was  no  alternative,  a 
fact  as  well  known  on  board  the  fleet  as  in  the  town. 
On  Saturday,  September  6,  Jan  de  Decker,  Nicholas 
Verleth,  Samuel  Megapolensis,  Comelis  Steenwj'ck, 
Jacques  Cousseau,  and  O.  S.  van  Courtlandt  met 
Colonel  Nicholls,  and  agreed  upon  terms  of  surren- 
der. By  these,  safety  of  life  and  property,  freedom 
in  religion,  trade,  and  emigration,  and  a represen- 
tative government  were  guaranteed  to  the  Dutch. 
On  Monday,  Stuyvesant  had  to  ratify  the  treaty  ; and 
immediately  afterward  he  walked  out  of  the  fort 
followed  by  his  soldiers,  whom  he  led  through 
Marckvelt  Straat  to  the  East  River,  where  the  mili- 
tary were  embarked  on  the  ship  “ Gideon  ” for 
Holland.  The  English  flag  was  hoisted  in  place  of 
the  Dutch ; Fort  Amsterdam  became  Fort  James; 
and  New  Netherland,  New  York.  A fortnight 
later  Fort  Orange  surrendered,  and  was  named 
“ Albany,”  — the  Duke  of  York’s  second  title. 
The  inhabitants  of  Rensselaerwyck  were  given  the 
same  terms  as  those  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  the 
patroon  himself  afterward  received  a confirmation 
of  his  rights.  On  October  i Fort  Casimir,  on  the 
South  River,  was  taken,  and  the  Dutch  flag  ceased 
to  wave  in  North  x^merica. 


NEW  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK.  1 77 


The  object  of  the  English  — to  gain  possession  of 
the  Dutch  colony  without  injuring  its  value  — had 
been  gained  ; but  such  a proceeding  was  tantamount 
to  a declaration  of  war,  and  it  was  so  received  in 
Holland.  As  soon  as  the  “ Gideon  ” arrived  with 
the  garrison  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  orders  were  de- 
spatched to  Admiral  de  Ruyter,  off  the  coast  of 
Africa,  to  reduce  the  English  possessions  there, 
which  he  did  without  delay.  In  1665  great  prepar- 
ations for  the  war  were  made  in  Holland,  and  the 
fisheries  were  suspended  to  gain  men  for  the  war- 
ships. Then  Charles  H.  formally  declared  war. 
During  its  progress  the  advantage  remained  with 
the  Dutch,  whose  captures  were  much  the  more 
important. 

Meanwhile  the  West  India  Company  sent  word 
to  Stuyvesant  to  come  out,  and  explain  the  surren- 
der in  person.  Before  his  departure,  he  asked  from 
the  burgomasters  and  schepens  a statement  regard- 
ing his  conduct  as  director.  They  testified  : “ His 
Honour  hath,  during  eighteen  years’  administra- 
tion, conducted  and  demeaned  himself  not  only  as 
a director-general,  as,  according  to  the  best  of  our 
knowledge,  he  ought  to  do  on  all  occasions  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  West  India  Company,  but  be- 
sides as  an  honest  proprietor  and  patriot  of  this 
province,  and  as  a supporter  of  the  Reformed  Re- 
ligion.” Stuyvesant  arrived  at  The  Hague  in  Oc- 
tober, 1665,  and  presented  his  report  to  the 
States-General.  He  found  the  directors  of  the 
West  India  Company  much  incensed  against  him. 
Angry  at  the  loss  of  their  property,  and  prejudiced 
12 


178 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


by  misrepresentations  of  the  facts  made  by  hostile 
members  of  the  Fort  Amsterdam  garrison,  they 
wished  to  hold  him  responsible  for  the  “ scandalous 
surrender.”  His  situation  for  some  time  was  very 
unpleasant.  He  wrote  to  New  York  for  testimony 
in  confirmation  of  his  defence,  and  received  in  six 
months  letters  from  the  city  magistrates  and  from 
Jeremias  van  Rensselaer,  which  enabled  him  to  make 
before  the  States- General  an  able  and  conclusive 
vindication  of  his  conduct. 

Meanwhile  negotiations  for  peace  were  conducted 
between  England  and  Holland.  A treaty  was  signed 
in  August,  1667,  according  to  which  each  nation  was 
to  retain  its  conquests.  These  terms  were  considered 
both  in  London  and  The  Hague  to  be  highly  favour- 
able to  the  Dutch,  who  gained  more  than  they  lost. 
Stuyvesant  exerted  himself  to  obtain  from  the  Eng- 
lish government  privileges  of  trade  advantageous  to 
New  York,  and  returned  there  in  October,  1667, 
where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  retire- 
ment on  his  bowery. 

Nine  years  afterward  Holland  and  England  were 
again  at  war.  In  August,  1673,  while  De  Ru3'ter 
and  Tromp  were  maintaining  the  reputation  of  the 
Dutch  for  prowess  on  the  seas,  by  defeating  the  com- 
bined English  and  French  fleets  off  the  Helder, 
Dutch  mariners  again  hoisted  the  national  flag  on 
Manhattan  Island. 

Cornells  Everts  and  Jacob  Binckes  had  just  cap- 
tured eight  English  tobacco  ships  in  the  Chesa- 
peake, when  the  idea  occurred  to  them  that  New 
York  would  be  an  easy  prey.  They  were  soon 


ATEW  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK.  1 79 

anchored  off  the  fort,  at  which  they  fired  a few 
broadsides,  while  Capt.  Anthony  Colve,  at  the 
head  of  six  hundred  men,  landed  at  Trinity 
churchyard,  and  marched  down  Broadway.  No 
defence  was  offered  beyond  a cannon-shot  fired  at 
the  fleet.  The  fort  surrendered  unconditionally ; 
the  English  marched  out,  and  the  Dutch  marched 
in.  Governor  Lovelace  then  formally  capitulated. 
The  English  had  taken  the  place  by  surprise  in 
time  of  peace.  The  Dutch  re-took  it  in  time 
of  open  war.  Prizes  were  made  of  all  the  English 
vessels  in  the  harbour.  The  province  was  re-named 
New  Netherlands  the  city  was  called  New  Orange; 
and  the  fort,  William  Hendrick.  A Dutch  admin- 
istration was  appointed,  with  Anthony  Colve  at  its 
head.  Anthony  de  Mill  was  made  schout;  Johan- 
nes van  Bruggh,  Johannes  de  Peyster,  and  ^Egidius 
Luyck,  burgomasters;  Wilhelm  Beeckman,  Jeroninus 
Ebbingh,  Jacob  Kip,  Laurens  van  der  Spiegel,  Gelyn 
Verplanck,  schepens.  The  joyful  shout  of  “Oranje 
Boven  ” was  heard  throughout  the  province. 

But  England  soon  became  disgusted  with  a war 
which  cost  her  too  much.  Twenty-seven  hundred 
British  ships  had  been  taken  by  Dutch  raen-of-war 
and  privateers.  In  1674  the  Treaty  of  Westminster 
was  signed,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that  each  power 
should  return  to  the  other  the  conquests  made  dur- 
ing hostilities.  Thus  New  Netherland  became  per- 
manently New  York. 

Peter  Stuyvesant  died  in  1672  at  his  bowery,  and 
his  remains  were  interred  in  a vault  beneath  the 
chapel  which  he  had  built  near  his  house.  When 


i8o 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


the  present  St.  Mark’s  church  was  erected,  on  the 
site  of  the  old  chapel,  the  vault  was  preserved,  and 
a commemorative  stone  was  placed  upon  its  wall, 
which  still  marks  the  grave  of  the  hardy  director  of 
New  Netherland.  The  character  of  Stuyvesant  has 
appeared  plainly  in  the  narrative  of  events  at  New 
Amsterdam.  Honest,  blunt,  and  passionate,  his  Hr- 
tues  and  his  faults  were  evident  to  all  men.  He  had 
been  a faithful  servant  to  the  West  India  Company, 
guarding  its  interests  with  a jealous  fidelity  and  pro- 
moting them  with  untiring  zeal.  In  the  servuce  of 
his  employers,  he  never  lacked  vigour  or  courage. 
In  his  enforced  conflicts  with  other  colonies  he 
showed  judgment  and  foresight,  yielding  when  he 
must,  but  struggling  to  the  last  against  any  odds. 
Had  the  West  India  Company  heeded  his  warnings. 
New  Amsterdam  might  have  resisted  for  many  years 
the  English  pressure.  In  his  dealings  with  the  In- 
dians he  pursued  a policy  of  stern  justice,  which  won 
their  respect  and  confidence.  No  Indian  war  can 
be  laid  to  his  charge  \ and  during  his  presence  on 
Manhattan  Island,  the  sleep  of  the  Dutch  settlers 
was  undisturbed  by  fears  of  savage  invasion.  His 
conduct  as  director  was  marred  by  conflicts  with 
those  under  his  authority,  which  were  caused  not  so 
much  by  harshness  of  nature  as  by  an  unnecessarily 
rigid  idea  of  his  duty.  To  govern  a colony  of  ad- 
venturous men,  settled  in  the  wilderness,  threatened 
on  the  one  hand  by  savage  enemies,  on  the  other  by 
aggressive  neighbours  of  uncertain  friendliness,  — 
he  conceived  that  his  mastery  must  be  unquestioned. 
The  responsibility  was  his,  — the  authority  must  be 


JVJilV  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK,  l8l 


his  also.  His  life  had  been  spent  in  Dutch  colonial 
adventures,  where  the  word  that  was  passed  from 
the  quarter-deck  was  the  law  without  appeal.  Hence 
the  contentions  which  characterized  the  early  years 
of  his  rule,  and  the  attitude  of  apparent  tyranny  in 
which  he  appeared.  As  time  wore  on,  he  and  the 
burghers  understood  each  other  better,  and  a mutual 
respect  succeeded  to  the  old  antagonism.  Head- 
strong and  violent  in  his  temper  he  always  was,  but 
animated  by  good  motives,  faithful  to  the  line  of  his 
duty,  and  seeking  the  interest  of  those  committed  to 
his  charge. 

Stuyvesant’s  last  years  were  passed  in  seclusion 
on  the  old  bowery,  which  had  been  the  home  of  his 
family  for  some  years  before  the  capitulation  in 
1664.  The  house  was  of  wood,  two  stories  in 
height,  with  projecting  rafters.  Its  situation,  as 
described  by  the  Hon.  Hamilton  Fish,  was  a point 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  east  of  Third  Ave- 
nue and  about  forty  feet  north  of  Twelfth  Street. 
In  front  of  it  was  a stiff  Dutch  garden,  laid  out  with 
formal  paths  and  flower-beds.  Near  the  house 
StU3wesant  had  planted  a pear-tree,  which  had  a 
remarkable  history.  For  more  than  two  hundred 
years  it  marked  the  spot  where  had  been  the  old 
director’s  garden.  Generations  of  his  descendants 
grew  up  and  passed  away,  and  still  the  pear-tree 
held  its  own.  As  new  streets  were  laid  out  and  the 
open  fields  of  Stuyvesant’s  bowery  became  city  lots, 
the  pear-tree  found  itself  on  the  corner  of  Third 
Avenue  and  Thirteenth  Street,  protected  by  an  iron 
railing.  The  onward  march  of  improvement  had 


i82 


PETER  STUYVESANT. 


left  it  behind  in  a thickly  settled  part  of  the  city, 
when  in  February,  1867,  it  was  blown  down  in  a 
storm.  The  boundaries  of  Stuyvesant’s  bowery 
were,  roughly  speaking,  Fourth  Avenue  on  the 
West,  the  river  on  the  East,  on  the  North  Seven- 
teenth Street,  and  on  the  South  Sixth  Street;  it 
contained  about  six  hundred  acres. 

Stuyvesant’s  widow,  Judith  Bayard,  lived  upon  the 
bowery  until  her  death  in  1687.  By  her  will,  she 
founded  St.  Mark’s  Church.  She  had  two  sons, — 
Balthazar,  born  in  1647  j Nicholas  AVilliam,  born 
in  1648.  Balthazar  went  to  the  West  Indies,  where 
he  died,  leaving  a daughter.  Nicholas  William  mar- 
ried, first,  Maria  Beeckman  ; and,  secondly,  Elizabeth 
Schlectenhorst.  He  passed  his  life  at  New  York,  and 
is  the  ancestor  of  the  present  family. 

Although  New  Netherland  became  a permanent 
English  colony  under  the  Treaty  of  Westminster  in 
1674,  its  population  remained  largely  Dutch  until 
nearly  the  middle  of  the  next  century.  The  pros- 
perity of  New  York,  growing  steadily  with  the  prog- 
ress of  trade  and  the  exportation  of  grains,  attracted 
emigrants  from  Holland  notwithstanding  the  change 
of  flag.  Many  families  now  living  on  Manhattan 
Island  are  descended  from  Dutchmen  who  came  out 
after  the  English  occupation.  The  old  names  with 
which  we  have  become  familiar  in  the  early  annals 
of  New  Amsterdam  continue  in  positions  of  honour 
and  prominence  through  the  English  colonial  rec- 
ords. In  1673,  we  find  among  the  city  magistrates 
Johannes  van  Bruggh,  Johannes  de  Peyster,  zEgi- 
dius  Luyck,  Jacob  Kip,  Laurans  van  der  Spiegel, 


NEW  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK.  183 


Wilhelm  Beeckman,  Guleyn  Verplanck,  Stephen 
van  Courtlandt.  In  1677,  Stephanus  van  Court- 
landt  is  mayor,  and  Johannes  de  Peyster  deputy- 
mayor.  In  1682,  Cornelis  Steenwyck  is  mayor; 
in  1685,  the  office  is  filled  by  Nicholas  Bayard;  in 
1686,  by  Van  Courtlandt  again.  Abraham  de  Peys- 
ter was  mayor  from  1691  to  1695;  time 

the  following  Dutchmen  were  aldermen  : W.  Beeck- 
man, Johannes  Kip,  Brandt  Schuyler,  Garrett  Douw, 
Arent  van  Scoyck,  Gerard  Douw,  Rip  van  Dam, 
Jacobus  van  Courtlandt,  Samuel  Bayard,  Jacobus 
van  Nostrandt,  Jan  Hendricks  Brevoort,  Jan  van 
Horne,  Petrus  Bayard,  Abraham  Wendell,  John 
Brevoort.  These  names  recur  down  to  1717.  In 
1718,  John  Roosevelt,  Philip  van  Courtlandt,  and 
Cornelius  de  Peyster  are  aldermen.  In  1719,  Ja- 
cobus van  Courtlandt  is  mayor,  and  among  the 
aldermen  are  Philip  van  Courtlandt,  Harmanus  van 
Gilder,  Jacobus  Kip,  Frederic  Philipse,  John  Roose- 
velt, Philip  Schuyler.  In  1745,  Stephen  Bayard  is 
mayor.  During  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  Dutch  names  are  more  and  more 
crowded  out  by  the  English.  But  we  still  find 
Nicholas  and  Cornelius  Roosevelt,  Cornelius  van 
Horne,  Dirck  Brinckerhoff,  Huybert  van  Wagener, 
Henry  Brevoort,  Jacob  Lefferts,  John  Hardenbrook, 
Nicholas  Bayard,  Tobias  van  Zandt,  John  Quack- 
enboss,  Theophilus  Beeckman,  and  others.  By  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  Dutch 
names  occur  only  occasionally. 

These  Dutchmen  not  only  preserved  their  leader- 
ship in  public  affairs,  but  carried  on  a large  propor- 


1 84  PETER  STUVVESANT. 

tion  of  the  city’s  trade.  New  York  was  an  English 
colony,  but  its  greatness  was  largely  built  on  Dutch 
foundations.  It  is  often  said  that  the  city  became 
flourishing  only  after  the  English  occupation.  This 
is  true,  with  the  qualification  that  the  Dutch  trader 
and  the  Dutch  farmer  after  that  event  had  greater 
opportunities  for  successful  activity. 

Not  a few  of  the  old  Dutch  houses  have  remained 
intact  until  our  own  day.  Notable  among  these  was 
the  De  Sille  house  at  New  Utrecht;  the  Cortelyou, 
Schermerhorn,  and  De  Hart  houses  in  Brooklyn ; and 
the  Kip  house  on  Kip’s  Bay,  near  the  foot  of  East 
Thirty-fifth  Street,  New  York.  The  Van  Courtlandt 
manor-house  at  Yonkers  still  stands  in  much  its 
original  condition. 

Some  of  the  Dutch  geographical  names  remain 
unchanged,  as  Barnegat,  Kill  van  Cull,  Staten  Island, 
Corker’s  Hook,  Spuyt  den  Dujwel  (in  spite  of  the 
devil).  Others  have  been  Anglicised  or  trans- 
lated ; thus,  Sandt  Hoeck,  Sandyhook ; Beeren’s 
Island,  Barren  Island ; Conyn’s  Island,  Coney  Isl- 
and ; Vlachte  Bos,  Flatbush ; Jemaico,  Jamaica; 
Vliessengen,  Flushing ; Robyn’s  Rift,  Robin’s  Reef ; 
Waal-Bogt,  Wallabout;  Kruine  Punt,  Cro\vn  Point; 
Deutel  Bay,  Turtle  Bay  ; Helle-gat,  Hell  Gate  ; IMar- 
tyn  Wyngaard’s  Island,  Martha’s  Vineyard ; An- 
tonie’s Neus,  St.  Anthony’s  Nose.  Yonkers  was 
called  Jonckers,  from  Jonge  Heer,  and  signified  the 
“young  gentleman’s  place.” 

Dutch  continued  to  be  the  language  of  New  York 
until  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  centuiy',  after 
which  time  English  contended  for  the  mastery  with 


NEW  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK.  185 

Steady  success.  In  the  outlying  towns  of  Long 
Island  and  New  Jersey  and  along  the  Hudson  River, 
Dutch  was  generally  used  for  a century  later.  The 
dialect  called  “ Jersey  Dutch  ” is  still  heard  in  the 
Ramapo  Valley.  But  in  New  York  city  the  large 
English  immigration,  the  requirements  of  com- 
merce, and  the  frequent  intermarriages  of  Dutch 
and  English  families  had  given  to  English  the  pre- 
dominance by  the  year  1750.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Laid- 
lie  preached  to  a Dutch  Reformed  congregation 
the  first  sermon  in  English  in  March,  1764,  in  the 
Middle  Church.  In  1773,  English  was  first  used 
in  the  Dutch  school.  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Peter 
van  Schaack  of  Kinderhook,  and  the  wife  of  James 
Jacobus  Roosevelt,  who  died  in  1845,  spoke  Dutch 
in  her  family ; and  her  son,  C.  V.  S.  Roosevelt,  who 
lived  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Fourteenth  Street,  could  also  speak  it.  Many  similar 
cases  of  the  survival  of  the  language  occurred.  But 
after  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  they  were 
unusual,  and  the  services  of  the  Reformed  churches 
were  conducted  entirely  in  English.  The  colony  of 
Cape  Town  in  South  Africa,  like  New  Amsterdam, 
became  an  English  possession  after  being  settled  by 
the  Dutch.  There  the  language  continued  more 
steadily  in  use.  The  late  Nicholas  L.  Roosevelt  vis- 
ited Cape  Town  in  1870  as  a lieutenant  on  board 
the  United  States  ship  “Alaska”  of  the  East  In- 
dian squadron.  A ball  was  given  on  board  to  the 
residents  of  the  town,  and  some  of  them  expressed 
to  Lieutenant  Roosevelt  their  surprise  that  he  could 
not  converse  with  them  in  the  language  of  the 
fatherland. 


1 86  PETER  STUVVESANT. 

The  language  and  customs  of  Holland  survived 
until  recent  years  in  isolated  villages  of  Long  Island, 
of  New  Jersey  and  the  Hudson  River.  In  Albany, 
the  Dutch  inhabitants  continued  in  nearly  exclusive 
possession  through  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
Van  Rensselaer  patroonship  was  the  only  one  which 
succeeded  and  endured.  After  the  English  occupa- 
tion, the  patroonship  was  changed  to  a manor,  but 
the  proprietor  retained  his  title.  Stephen  van  Rens- 
selaer, the  last  of  the  family  to  be  called  “ The 
Patroon,”  died  in  1839. 

In  New  York  city,  the  high-stoop  house,  and  the 
peculiar  observ'ance  of  New  Year’s  Day  which 
continued  until  1870,  are  two  familiar  relics  of 
Holland.  The  valuable  custom  of  registering  trans- 
fers of  real  estate  has  been  received  from  the  same 
source.  The  Collegiate  Dutch  Church  has  flour- 
ished for  two  centuries  and  a half  in  a career  of 
uninterrupted  and  unmeasured  usefulness.  When 
the  English  flag  was  hoisted  at  New  Amsterdam 
in  1664,  the  infant  city  had  already  stamped  upon 
it  the  characteristics  of  commercial  enterprise,  of 
a cosmopolitan  spirit,  of  religious  toleration,  of  free 
public  education,  and  of  a representative  munici- 
pal government. 


INDEX 


Achter  de  Perel  Straat,  109. 
Adriaensen,  Maryn,  37,  42,  46. 

Albert  the  Trumpeter,  106. 

Allerton,  Isaac,  47. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  10. 

Amersfoort,  91. 

Amsterdam  Trading  Co.,  16. 
Anchorage  ground,  no. 

Animals,  at  large,  H2. 

Anthony,  Allard,  85,  104,  125. 

Artists,  165. 

Backer,  Jacobus,  138. 

Backerus,  Johannes,  156. 

Bayard,  Annake,  59. 

- Balthazar,  59,  149. 

Nicholas,  59,  107,  149,  183. 

Peter,  59,  104,  183. 

Samuel,  183. 

Stephen,  183. 

Baxter,  George,  62,  90, 

Beaver  Street,  106 
Becker,  Juriaense,  162. 

Bedlow,  Isaac,  107, 134. 

Beeckman,  Joghim,  in. 

Maria,  182. 

Theophilus,  183. 

Wilhelm,  85,  115,  125,  133,  137, 

138,  149,  169,  179. 

Beekman  Street,  115. 

Beekman’s  Swamp,  117. 

Belcher,  Thomas,  29. 

Benson,  Egbert,  159. 

Bentyn,  Jacques,  37. 

Bergen,  loi, 

Beurs  Straat,  106. 

Beverwyck,  73. 


Bikker,  Gerrit,  92. 

Binckes,  Jacob,  178. 

Bloeck,  Jacob,  163. 

Block,  Adriaen,  16. 

Blommaert,  Adriaen,  21,  125. 
Bogardus,  Everardus,  22,  32,  43,  53, 
67,  1 14,  156. 

Wilhelm,  in. 

Books,  147- 

Bout,  Jan  E.,  48,  69,  77. 

Bowery,  the  Domine’s,  113,  114. 

Sluyvesant’s,  181. 

Bowling  Green,  104. 

Bowne,  John,  100. 

Bommel,  van,  Hendrick,  i2S» 

Breede  Weg,  104. 

Brevoort,  Henry,  183. 

Jan  Hendrick,  182. 

Bridge  Street,  107. 

Bridge,  the,  107,  no. 

Brinckerhoff,  Dirck,  183. 

Broadway,  103,  104,  112,  115. 

Broad  Street,  105. 

Bronck,  Jonas,  39. 

Brooklyn,  29,  gi. 

Brouwer,  Cornelius,  115. 

Straat,  107. 

Bruggh,van,  Carel,  109. 

Johannes,  107,  no,  125, 179,  182. 

Johannes  G-,  137. 

Johannes  P.,  129,  137,  138. 

Bruggh  Straat,  107. 

Building  lots,  149. 

Burgher’s  path,  in. 

Burgomasters  and  schepens,  the  first, 
85;  method  of  appointment,  124; 
meetings  of,  123;  duties  of,  126; 


i88 


INDEX. 


powers  of,  127;  salary  of,  126;  title 
of,  125 ; impose  taxes,  138  ; sitting 
as  civil  and  criminal  court,  130, 
133- 

Bushwyck,  101. 

Canal,  on  Beaver  Street,  106. 

on  Broad  Street,  105,  109. 

Canal  Street,  118. 

Carelse,  Joost,  162. 

Carpsey,  Gabriel,  112. 

Cemetery,  the,  104. 

Chambers,  John,  104. 

Charles  II.  grants  New  Netherland 
to  Duke  of  York,  171. 

Charter  of  privileges,  19. 

Christiansen,  Hendrick,  16. 

Church,  the  first  building,  22  ; in  the 
fort,  31,  32;  others,  154,  155;  the 
English,  105. 

Cingel  ofte  Stadt  Waal,  105. 
Citizenship,  great  and  small,  141. 
Clergyman,  the  first,  22. 

See  Domines. 

Clocq,  Pelgrum,  131. 

Clopper,  Cornelius,  116. 

Clothing,  145. 

Clyff,  van,  Dirck,  109. 

Coenties  Slip,  108. 

Collect,  the,  118. 

Collins,  John,  30. 

Colve,  Anthony,  179. 

Connecticut  lands,  22. 

Corlaer,  van,  Jacob,  162. 

Cornells,  Guilian,  iii. 

Cornelissen,  Jan,  160. 

Cortelyou,  Jacques,  103,  no. 

Coster,  Samuel,  164. 

Courts  of  justice,  122,  123,  130. 
Courtlandt,  van,  Cornelia,  in. 

Jacobus,  149, 183. 

Oloff  Stevensen,  28,  77,  79,  107, 

no,  125,  137,  138,  148,  176. 

Philip,  183 

Stephen,  1S3. 

Cousseau,  Jacques,  108,  176. 
Couwenhoven,  van,  Jacob,  22,  69,  77, 
107,  III,  131,  137. 

■ Johannes,  107. 

Pieter,  85,  108,  125,  129,  137. 

Cows,  1 12. 


Cregier,  Martin,  85,  89,  104,  125,  129, 
137.  138*  169- 
Crops,  168. 

Curler,  Arendt,  54. 

Jacob,  28. 

Curtius,  Alex.  C.,  163. 

Cuvilje,  Adriana,  113. 

Dam,  Jan  Jansen,  32,  37,  47,  69. 
Dam,  van,  Rip,  149,  183. 

Daraen,  Jan  Jansen,  113. 

Decker,  de,  Jan,  176. 

Delaplaine,  Nicholas,  in. 

Delegates  to  Holland,  77,  78,  84, 
Dincklage,  van,  Lubbertus,  59,  78. 
Dircksen,  Barent,  47. 

Cornelius,  117. 

Gerrit,  37. 

Domines,  the,  their  salaries,  138 ; in- 
fluence of,  160 ; those  who  officiated 
in  New  Amsterdam,  156,  157. 
Donck,  van  der,  Adriaen,  consults 
with  people,  75 ; sent  to  Holland 
to  procure  reforms,  77 ; publishes 
“ Vertoogh,^’  77  ; returns  success- 
ful, 84  ; law  practice,  130. 

Doughty,  Francis,  30,  48. 

Douw,  Gerard,  183. 

Gerrit,  183. 

Drainage,  112. 

Drisius,  Domine,  98,  138,  156. 
Duyckinck,  Evert,  107,  124. 

Gerard,  155. 

Dutch  people,  character  of,  8 et  seq. 
Dutch  influence,  after  English  occu- 
pation, 182,  184,  186. 

Dyck,  van  Hendrick,  39,  59,  78,  94- 

Lydia,  107. 

Dyre,  William,  88. 

East  India  Company,  15. 

Eaton,  Governor,  71. 

Ebbingh,  Jeroninus,  107,  125,  179. 
Eight  Men,  the,  47,  51. 

Elbertsen,  Elbert,  77. 

Elkens,  Jacob,  23. 

Elslant,  van,  Claes,  106,  130,  159. 
Emigration,  100,  119,  120. 

English  language,  first  used  in  Dutch 
church  and  school,  185. 

Es  van,  Elizabeth,  147. 


INDEX. 


189 


Esopus  War,  g6. 

Everts,  Cornelis,  178. 

Exchange  Place,  106. 

Exchange,  the  first,  no. 

Fairfield,  88. 

Farm,  the  Duke’s,  114;  the  king’s, 
1 13  ; West  India  Company’s,  113. 
Ferry,  the,  103,  116,  117. 

Festivals,  151. 

Finances,  137. 

Fire  department,  127,  129. 

Fish,  Hamilton,  181. 

Flat,  the,  ii 
Flatbush,  91. 

Flatlands,  91. 

Flushing,  91. 

Fly,  the,  116. 

Food,  176. 

Forest,  de,  Isaac,  28,  107,  no,  125, 
138. 

Fort  Amsterdam,  18,  103,  176. 

Casimir,  92,  176. 

Christina,  55,  94. 

Good  Hope,  22,  56,  88. 

— James,  176. 

Nassau,  18. 

Orange,  17. 

Trinity,  92,  94. 

William  Hendrick,  J79. 

Franklin  Square,  116. 

Fresh  Water,  the,  118. 

Front  Street,  108. 

Funerals,  160. 

Fur  trade,  18,  57,  140,  141. 

Game,  167. 

Garden  Street,  106. 

Garden,  West  India  Company’s,  105. 
Gelaer,  van,  Johannes,  162. 
Geographical  names,  Dutch,  184. 
Geraerd,  Maria,  no. 

Gerritsen,  Philip,  123. 

Gheel,  van,  Martin,  137. 

• Maximilian,  85. 

Gilder,  van,  Harmanus,  183. 

Gillisen,  Jan,  124. 

Godyn  patroon,  21,  55. 

Golden  fleece,  9. 

Good  Hope,  Cape  of,  14. 


Governor’s  Island,  95. 

Graft,  Bever,  106. 

Heere,  109,  142. 

Prince,  106. 

Gravesend,  29,  91. 

Greenwich,  119. 

Grist,  van  der,  Paulus  L.,  62,  71,  85, 
95»  125,  129,  137,  138. 


Haart,  de,  Balthazar,  109. 
Haeckens,  Jan,  131. 

Half-Moon,  the,  15. 

Hall,  Thomas,  29,  47,  50,  69,  77,  117, 
129. 

Hanover  Square,  in. 

Hardenberg,  van,  A.,  66,  69,  76,  77, 
Hardenbrook,  Abel,  in,  133,  134. 

Johannes,  106,  ni,  183. 

Harlem,  101,  ng. 

Hartford  treaty,  84. 

Hatten,  van,  Arent,  85,  125,  137. 
Heemskerk,  Jacob,  13. 

Heemstede,  91. 

Heere  Straat,  104. 

Heere  Weg,  112. 

Heermans,  Augustyn,  69,  77,  116, 
165,  169. 

Hendricksen,  55. 

Herberg,  31,  io8. 

Herdsman,  the,  112, 

Hermann,  Wolfert,  13. 

Heyn,  Peter,  20. 

Hoboocken,  van,  Harmanus,  161. 
Hodgson,  Robert,  99. 

Hoogh  Straat,  107. 

Holland,  naval  victories,  13 ; war  with 
England,  177,  178. 

Holmes,  George,  29. 

Hopkins,  Governor,  89. 

Horne,  van,  Cornelius,  109,  183. 

Jan,  149,  183. 

Horst,  van  der,  Ulyndert,  29,  48. 
Houses,  144,  145,  184, 

Houtman,  Cornelius,  14. 

Hudson,  Henry,  discoveries,  8 ; at 
Hudson  River,  15. 

Hubbard,  James,  90. 

Hudde,  Andries,  162. 

Hull,  Edward,  88. 

Hutchinson,  Anne,  30,  48. 


INDEX, 


190 

Ilpendam,  van,  Adriaen,  162. 

Indian  War,  the,  35;  end  of,  53  ; in 
Stuyvesant’s  time,  95. 

Indians,  treatment  of,  by  Dutch,  33, 
34;  by  Stuyvesant,  94. 

Inheritance,  150. 

Inventories,  146,  147. 

Jamaica,  ioi. 

Jans,  Annetje,  114. 

Jansen,  Albert,  121. 

Aryvien,  162. 

Hendrick,  37, 

Machyel,  69,  77. 

Pieter,  128. 

Roeloff,  113. 

Jay,  Peter,  104 
Jersey,  Dutch,  185. 

Joris,  Borger,  iii. 

Kay,  de,  Jacob  Teunis,  106,  116. 
Kerfbyl,  Johannes,  157,  163. 

Kermis,  142- 

Keyser,  Adriaen,  59,  129. 

Kieft,  Wilhelm,  his  appointment  as 
director  and  previous  reputation, 
26;  his  administration,  27  et  seq\ 
his  conduct  toward  Indians,  35,  37; 
attacks  Indians,  42  ; accuses  Kuyter 
and  Melyn,  61, 65  ; his  death,  66. 
Kierstede,  Hans,  28,  108,  143,  163. 
Kip,  Hendrick,  52,  69,  77,  no,  125. 

Hendrick  H.,  107,  129. 

Isaac,  107,  139,  149. 

Jacob,  85,  106,  no,  125,  139, 

179,  182,  183. 

— Johannes,  183. 

Ludowyck,  138. 

Kip  Street,  116. 

Kissing  Bridge,  118. 

Koeck,  Jan,  130. 

Kolch-hoeck,  117. 

Koom,  Nicholas,  28,  54. 

Krank-besoecker,  18 

Kuyter,  28, 32, 37, 47,  50, 61,64, 66, 67. 

La  Chair,  Solomon,  131,  135. 
Laidlie,  Dr.,  1S5. 

Lair,  van,  Adriaen,  129. 

Land  Gate,  104,  105. 

Lang  de  Waal,  109. 


Lange,  Jacob,  145. 

Langstraat,  van,  Jan,  128. 

Lawrence,  John,  107. 

Lawyers,  130, 

Lefferts,  Jacob,  183. 

Leisler,  Jacob,  106,  117. 

Leverett,  Captain,  89. 

Lispenard’s  Meadows,  118. 
Litigation,  130. 

Loockermans,  A.,  149. 

Covert,  22,  54,  69,  77,  107,  125, 

i37>  138- 

Long  Island,  settlement  of,  30. 

Long  Island  towns,  convention  of,  90. 
Lovelace,  Governor,  179. 

Lubberts,  Jan,  162. 

Lubbertsen,  Frederik,  37. 

Lutherans,  the,  98,  157. 

Luyck,  Aegidius,  134,  163  166,  179, 
1S2. 

Maagde  Paatje,  115. 

Magistrates,  the,  124,  125. 

Maiden  Lane,  115. 

Manhattan  Island,  purchase  of,  iS. 
Marckvelt,  the,  104, 

Marckvelt  Steegie,  106. 

Market-field  Path,  106. 

Markets,  142,  143. 

Marriages,  159. 

Maurice.  Prince,  13,  14. 

Megapolensis,  Johannes,  54,  94,  98, 

*38,  156,  175- 

Samuel,  156,  163,  176. 

Melyn,  Cornelius,  28,  47,  50,  61,  64, 
66,  67,  76,  80,  IOI,  III. 

Mespath,  L.  I.,  30. 

Mey,  Cornelis,  17. 

Meyert,  de,  Nicholas,  107. 

Midwout,  91. 

Mill,  de,  Anthony,  179. 

Minuit,  Peter,  18,  21,  55. 

Mixam,  86. 

Molenaar,  Abram,  37. 

Money,  139. 

Montagne,  de  la,  Jan,  iii,  159. 

de  la,  Johannes,  27,  28,  43,  62, 

78,  163. 

Moody,  Lady  Deborah,  48. 

Municipal  government,  its  beginning, 
84, 85. 


INDEX. 


I9I 


Names,  family,  164,  165. 

Nassau  Street,  1 15. 

Nevins,  Johannes,  130,  136,  138. 

New  Amsterdam,  as  Stuyvesant  found 
it,  62  ; its  limits,  iii  ; its  appear- 
ance, 112;  houses  in,  119;  popula- 
tion of,  1 19;  allotment  of  land  in, 
12 1 ; establishment  of  municipal 
government,  123;  finances  of,  137; 
first  public  debt,  137;  first  revenue, 
138;  foreign  trade,  140;  attacked 
by  English  force  under  Nicholls, 
171  ; its  surrender,  176;  re-taken 
by  Dutch,  178. 

Newark  Bay,  29. 

New  Dorp,  loi. 

New  England,  encroachments  of,  57, 
70,  82,  170. 

New  England  settlers  in  New  Neth- 
erland,  30, 

New  Netherland  named,  16;  growth 
under  Stuyvesant,  roo ; its  charter, 
19;  government  of,  12 1 ; courts  of 
justice,  122;  granted  by  Charles  II. 
to  Duke  of  York,  171 ; becomes 
New  York,  176,  179. 

“New  Netherland,”  built  at  Man- 
hattan, 19. 

New  Orange,  179. 

Newton,  Bryan,  59,  78. 

Newtown,  91. 

New  Utrecht,  loi. 

Nicholls,  Richard,  171,  176. 

Nieuwenhuysen,  van,  Wilhelmus,  157. 

Nine  Men,  the,  68,  69,  75,  122. 

Ninigret,  86. 

Nostrandt,  van,  Jacobus,  183. 

Notaries,  130,  131. 

Nutten’s  Island,  95. 

Olfertsen,  Jacob,  47. 

Oost  Dorp,  loi. 

Op  Dyck,  Gyspert,  28,  56. 

Palisade,  at  Wall  St.,  86, 

Park,  City  Hall,  113. 

Pastures,  the,  104,  112. 

Patroons,  their  creation  and  privi- 
leges, 20 ; failure  of  the  system,  27 ; 
the  last  patroon,  186. 

Pauw,  Michael,  21. 


Pavonia,  massacre  at,  43. 

Pearl  Street,  108,  116. 

Peck  Slip,  103. 

Pell,  Thomas,  loi. 

Pessicus,  86. 

Peyster,  de,  Abraham,  107,  183. 

Cornelius,  183. 

-^—Johannes,  iii,  125,  137,  138, 
149,  179,  182,  183. 

Philipse,  Frederic,  147,  151,  183. 

Sara,  107. 

Physicians,  163. 

Pietersen,  Abraham,  47. 

Evert,  161. 

Gerrit,  128. 

Jan,  128. 

Pine  Street,  116. 

Poets,  166. 

Polhemus,  Johannes,  157. 

Police,  127. 

Pos,  Ludowyck,  128. 

Prince  Street,  106. 

“Princess,”  wreck  of,  67. 

Provoost,  David,  28,  131,  149. 

Pryn,  Jacques,  128. 

Punishments,  133. 

Quackenboss,  John,  183. 

Quakers,  99, 

Quebec,  8. 

Rapelje,  George,  38. 

Rattle-watch,  128. 

Ray,  John,  1 1 1. 

Real  estate,  149,  150. 

Religious  toleration,  at  New  Amster- 
dam, 99. 

Remoutsen,  R.,  129. 

Rensselaer,  van,  Jeremias,  138,  178. 

Johan,  73. 

Kiliaen,  21,  54. 

Stephen,  186. 

Rensselaerwyck,  55,  73,  loi,  176. 
Representative  government,  in  New 
Amsterdam,  37,  47,  68,  69,  75,  84. 
81;,  127,  133. 

“ Restless,”  the,  16. 

Rodman,  John,  24. 

Roelandsen,  Adam,  22,  160. 

Roosevelt,  Bay,  106. 

— c V.  S.,  185. 


192 


INDEX. 


Roosevelt,  Cornelius,  183. 

Jacobus,  1 17. 

James  Jacobus,  185. 

John,  183. 

Nicholas,  183. 

Nicholas  L.,  185. 

Roosevelt  Street,  ii8. 

Rust  Dorp,  loi. 

Ruyter,  de,  Admiral,  177. 

Ruyter,  Hendrick,  128. 

Ruyven,  van,  Cornelis,  104,  138,  166, 
169. 

Rysyngh,  Captain,  92,  94, 

Salee,  Anthony,  29. 

Schaack,  van,  Peter,  185. 

Rebecca,  149. 

Schaafbanck,  Pieter,  130. 

Schaap  Way  tie,  106. 

Scheep  Walk,  106. 

Schenectady,  102. 

Schepens,  85. 

Schelluyne,  van,  Dirck,  130. 
Schlechtenhorst,  van,  Brandt,  73. 

• Elizabeth,  182. 

Schoeyinge,  the,  108,  109,  123. 

School,  the,  160,  161. 

the  Latin,  162. 

Schoolmaster,  the  first,  22;  others,  160. 
Schout,  the  first,  85;  duties  of,  124,  125. 
Schuyler,  Brandt,  in,  183. 

Philip,  183. 

Scott,  John,  170. 

Scoyck,  van,  Arent,  183. 

Seawan,  30,  140. 

Sedgwick,  Major,  89. 

Selyns,  Henricus,  157,  166. 

Servants,  147. 

Sexton,  the,  159. 

Ship,  first  built  at  Manhattan,  16. 
Shops,  143. 

Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  ir. 

Silla,  de,  Cornelius,  in. 

Sille,  de,  Nicasius,  125,  129,  166. 
Simons,  Hendrickje,  107. 

Slavery,  148- 
Smee  Straat,  in. 

Smith,  Capt.  John,  7. 

Smith  Street,  in. 

Smith  Street  Lane,  106. 

Smith,  the,  Claes,  36. 


Smit’s  Valey,  116. 

Smoking,  153. 

South  River,  55,  92,  169. 

South  Street,  108 

Spiegel,  van  der,  Laurens,  179,  182. 

Stadt  Huys,  108,  123. 

Stamford,  88. 

St.  Augustine,  7. 

“ St.  Benino,”  capture  of,  71. 

Stevensen,  Jan,  162. 

Steen,  Hans,  43. 

Steendam,  Jacob,  166. 

Steenwyck,  Cornelius,  106,  125,  138, 
144,  146,  176,  183. 

Stirling,  Lord,  70. 

Stoffelsen,  Jacob,  37,  48. 

St.  Mark’s  Church,  180. 

Stone  Street,  103,  107. 

Stoop,  the,  144. 

Streets,  origin  of,  103  ; the  first  paved, 
107. 

Strycker,  Jacob,  125. 

Stuyvesant,  Balthazar,  58,  105,  176, 
182. 

Judith  Bayard,  149,  182. 

Nicholas  William,  105,  182. 

Pear  Tree,  iSi. 

Peter,  at  Cura^oa,  50 ; appointed 

Director,  57;  early  life,  58 ; loss  of 
his  leg,  58 ; his  wife,  59 ; voyage  to 
New  Netherland,  60;  his  overbear- 
ing spirit,  60;  arri\’al  at  Manhat- 
tan, 61 ; organizes  government,  62  ; 
his  reforms,  63  ; his  course  to^s’ard 
Kieft,  Kuyter,  and  Melyn,  64,  65; 
his  anger  at  an  appeal  to  Holland, 
66 ; quarrels  with  burghers  about 
taxation,  68 ; appoints  nine  men, 
68 ; negotiates  with  New’  England, 
70;  quarrels  with  New  Haven,  71  ; 
with  Rensselaerwyck,  73  ; dissatis- 
faction with  his  government,  74 ; 
punishes  Van  der  Donck,  75  ; quar- 
rels with  Meljm,  76,  So ; sends  Van 
Tienhoven  to  represent  him  in 
Holland,  77 ; his  arbitrary  temper 
and  acts,  81 ; negotiates  with  Con- 
necticut, 82 ; journey  to  Hartford, 
83 ; appoints  burgomasters  and 
schepens,  85  ; prepares  for  tvar,  86, 
89 ; opposes  Long  Island  towns, 


INDEX. 


193 


90;  his  expedition  against  Swedes, 
93 ; pacification  of  Indians,  96 ; 
persecutes  Lutherans,  98 ; the 
Quakers,  99;  his  authority,  121 ; as 
a magistrate,  122 ; overrules  bur- 
gomasters, 127;  his  opposition  to 
English  encroachment,  169 ; visits 
Boston,  170 ; his  dread  of  invasion, 
171 ; hears  of  Nicholl’s  expedition, 
172  ; prepares  for  defence,  172  ; de- 
termination to  defend  the  city,  173  ; 
his  contest  with  the  burgomasters, 
174;  defies  the  English,  175;  is 
forced  to  surrender,  176;  goes  to 
the  Hague,  177;  vindicates  his  con- 
duct, 178;  returns  to  New  York, 
178;  his  death,  179;  his  character, 
180;  his  bowery,  181. 

Sunday,  observance  of,  159. 

Surrender  of  New  Amsterdam,  176. 

Surveyor,  the  town,  no. 

Swamp,  the,  117. 

Tanners,  the,  117. 

Taxation,  68,  138,  139. 

Teneur,  Daniel,  121. 

Ten  Eyck,  Conraet,  in,  137,  139,  143. 

Thomas,  Jesmer,  59. 

Throgmorton,  John,  30. 

Tienhoven,  van,  Cornelius,  27,  42,  61, 
77»  79,  82,  113,  125. 

'J'onneman,  Pieter,  125. 

Tricht,  van,  Gerrit,  108. 

Tromp,  Admiral,  178. 

Tuyen,  Straat,  106. 

Twelve  Men,  the,  37. 

Twiller,  van,  Wouter,  21,  22. 

Uncas,  86. 

Underhill,  John,  30,  48,  87. 

Utrecht,  Union  of,  12. 

Veen,  van  der,  Walewyn,  131,  136. 

Verdran,  Thomas,  128. 

Verhulst,  Wilhelm,  17. 

Verleth,  Nicholas,  176. 

Verplanck,  Abraham,  28,  38,  42,  113, 
117,  129,  137,  139. 

Abiggel,  107. 

Guleyn,  117,  179,  183. 

Isaac,  117. 


Verplanck,  Maria,  113. 

Vestens,  Wilhelm,  161. 

Videt,  Jan,  121. 

Vin,  van  der,  125. 

Vincent,  Adriaen,  in. 

Jan,  in. 

Vinje,  Guleyn,  113. 

Vlacke,  the,  113. 

Vlensburg,  van,  Jan,  128. 

Vly,  the,  !i6. 

Volkertsen,  Dirck,  113. 

Voorst,  van,  Gerrit,  40,  48. 

Vos,  de,  Mathew,  130. 

Vries,  de,  arrives  at  Manhattan,  22  ; 
opposes  Van  Twiller,  24;  colonizes 
Staten  Island,  28;  opposes  Kieft’s 
War,  40,  44;  leaves  New  Nether- 
land,  49. 

Vriesendael,  29,  45. 

Waal,  the,  109. 

Wagener,  van,  Huybert,i83. 
Waldron,  Annetje,  nr. 

Resolved,  no,  169. 

Wall  Street,  86,  105. 

Walloons,  17. 

Water  Side,  the,  108. 

Water  Street,  108,  109. 

Water  Gate,  116. 

Wendell,  Abraham,  183. 

Werckhoven,  Van,  go. 

West  India  Company,  incorporation, 
17;  profits,  18;  successes,  20; 
bankruptcy,  52,  57  ; opposed  to  re- 
forms, 77,  84  ; its  religious  tolera- 
tion, 98,  100 ; summons  Stuyvesant 
to  Holland,  177. 

Westminster,  treaty  of,  179. 

Whitehall  Street,  103,  106. 

Willet,  John,  171. 

William  of  Orange,  10,  12. 

William  Street,  ni. 

Winckel  Straat,  109. 

Windmills,  22. 

Winthrop,  John,  70,  170,  173. 
Wolfertsen,  Gerrit,  47. 

Wolsey,  Joris,  129. 

Wooley,  Charles,  158. 

Wynkoop,  Peter,  50. 


Zandt,  van,  Tobias,  183. 


MAKERS  OF  AMERICA 


The  following  is  a list  of  the  subjects  and  authors  so 
far  arranged  for  in  this  series.  The  volumes  will 
be  published  at  the  uniform  price  of  %1.00,  and 
will  appear  hi  rapid  succession  : — 

Christopher  Columbus  (1436-1506),  and  the  Discov- 
ery of  the  New  World.  By  Charles  Kendall 
Adams,  President  of  Cornell  University. 

John  Winthrop  (1588-1649),  First  Governor  of 
the  Massachusetts  Colony.  By  Rev.  Joseph  H. 
Twichell. 

Robert  Morris  (1734-1806),  Superintendent  of  Finance 
under  the  Continental  Congress.  By  Prof.  William 
G.  Sumner,  of  Yale  University. 

James  Edward  Oglethorpe  (1689-1785),  and  the  Found- 
ing of  the  Georgia  Colony.  By  Henry  Bruce, 
Esq. 

John  Hughes,  D.D.  (1797-1864),  First  Archbishop  of 
New-York  : a Representative  American  Catholic. 
By  Henry  A.  Brann,  D.D. 

Robert  Fulton  (1765-1815):  His  Life  and  its  Results. 
By  Prof.  R.  H.  Thurston,  of  Cornell  University. 


2 


MAKERS  OF  AMERICA. 


Francis  Higginson  (1587-1630),  Puritan,  Author  of 
“ New  England’s  Plantation,”  etc.  By  Thomas  W. 
Higginson. 

Peter  Stuyvesant  (1602-1682),  and  the  Dutch  Settle- 
ment of  New- York.  By  Bayard  Tuckerman, 
Esq.,  author  of  a “Life  of  General  Lafayette,” 
editor  of  the  “ Diary  of  Philip  Hone,”  etc.,  etc. 

Thomas  Hooker  (1586-1647),  Theologian,  Founder  of 
the  Hartford  Colony.  By  George  L.  Walker, 
D.D. 

Charles  Sumner  (1811-1874),  Statesman.  By  Anna 
L.  Dawes. 

Thomas  Jefferson  (1743-1826),  Third  President  of  the 
United  States.  By  James  Schooler,  Esq.,  author 
of  “A  History  of  the  United  States  under  the 
Constitution.” 

William  White  (1748-1836),  Chaplain  of  the  Continen- 
tal Congress,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  President  of 
the  Convention  to  organize  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  America.  By  Rev.  Julius  H.  Ward, 
with  an  Introduction  by  Right  Rev.  Henry  C.  Potter, 
D.D.,  Bishop  of  New- York. 

Jean  Baptiste  Lemoine,  sieur  de  Bienville  (1680-1768), 
French  Governor  of  Louisiana,  Founder  of  New 
Orleans.  By  Grace  King,  author  of  “ Monsieur 
Motte.” 

Alexander  Hamilton  (1757-1804),  Statesman,  Finan- 
cier, Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  By  Prof.  William 
G.  Sumner,  of  Yale  University. 

Cotton  Mather  (1663-1728),  Theologian,  Author,  Be- 
liever in  Witchcraft  and  the  Supernatural.  By  Prof. 
Barrett  Wendell,  of  Harvard  University. 


MAKERS  OF  AMERICA. 


3 


Robert  Cavelier,  sieur  de  La  Salle  (1643-1687),  Ex- 
plorer of  the  Northwest  and  the  Mississippi.  By 
Edward  G.  Mason,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Histori- 
cal Society  of  Chicago,  author  of  “ Illinois”  in  the 
Commonwealth  Series. 

Thomas  Nelson  (1738-1789),  Governor  of  Virginia, 
General  in  the  Revolutionary  Army.  Embracing  a 
Picture  of  Virginian  Colonial  Life.  By  Thomas 
Nelson  Page,  author  of  “Mars  Chan,”  and  other 
popular  stories. 

G-eorge  and  Cecilius  Calvert,  Barons  Baltimore  of 
Baltimore  (1605-1676),  and  the  Founding  of  the 
Maryland  Colony.  By  William  Hand  Browne, 
editor  of  “ The  Archives  of  Maryland.” 

Sir  William  Johnson  (1715-1774),  and  The  Six  Na- 
tions. By  William  Elliot  Griffis,  D.D.,  author 
of  “ The  Mikado’s  Empire,”  etc. , etc. 

Sam.  Houston  (1793-1862),  and  the  Annexation  of 
Texas.  By  Henry  Bruce,  Esq. 

Joseph  Henry,  LL.D.  (1797-1878),  Savant  and  Natural 
Philosopher.  By  Frederic  H.  Betts,  Esq. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  By  Prof.  Herman  Grimm, 
author  of  “ The  Life  of  Michael  Angelo,”  “ The  Life 
and  Times  of  Goethe,”  etc. 

DODD,  MEAD,  & COMPANY, 

5 East  19th  Street,  New  York. 


Date  Due 


i 

./:vr  A rt  . - 

]u  r % 3 

L.  B.  Cat.  No.  1:37 


